Citizens in the European Union should be able to buy something online in another European country much more easily. The European Ministers of Economy reached an agreement in this regard, but now the European Parliament still has to do the same.
Not evident
“If you go to a store and buy something, you do not ask for identification, do you?”, European Commissioner for a Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, said. “That is why we should arrive at a single system for online shopping.” However, that is not as clear-cut as it may seem: only 15 % of Europeans bought something abroad online in 2014. It is often very hard to shop online on a website abroad: 63 % of retailers refuses to ship abroad and those that do, often have high shipping costs, which is an obstacle for consumers.
That is why the European Commission wants to deal with geoblocking, which basically means that foreign consumers cannot reach a website’s purchase module. Retailers will be forced to clear the way for citizens from other European member states and everyone in the European Union will also get the same purchase conditions, regardless of where they are from.
However, geoblocking does not mean every web shop will be forced to ship abroad: the European Union only requires every European citizen to get the same options as a local resident. Belgians who order something with a German web shop, will need to fix their own transport or fill in a local, German address if the store does not ship abroad. Online retailers will therefore be forced to mention their country of origin.
Now that all European Ministers have agreed on an approach, the European Parliament will need to formulate an opinion, which should arrive before the year’s end. The entire legislative process should be finalized begin 2017, when Malta takes charge of the European Union. The deal does not target financial, social or media services.
