Brussels, 30th of November 2020 – Today, the European Commission published the first report on the regulation addressing unjustified geo-blocking. The regulation was adopted in 2018. Geo-blocking prevents citizens from accessing content on-line based on their location. In other words, these are the territorial restrictions that prevent users from watching videos, listen to music, read e-books, or play games. Hence, it is a critical topic particularly in the time of the pandemic. Vice-President of the European Parliament Marcel Kolaja has been calling for eliminating such unjustified geo-blocking in the European Union for a long time.
“Especially in times of the global pandemic, when people rely on services on-line, unjustified geo-blocking is becoming a serious issue. Everyone should be able to access information on-line, without any discrimination based on their location, nationality, or language they speak,” stated Marcel Kolaja. “The good news is that the amount of geo-blocked content has been declining, according to the Commission‘s report. However, we have to eliminate the geo-blocking of content restricted by copyright. For that, we need unitary copyright,” added Kolaja.
“It is crystal clear that we need legislation in this field since the industry will not solve this issue on their own,” said Kolaja. “As there will be a consultation on this report, the general public can express their views on the issue geo-blocking, which I highly recommend,” closed Kolaja.
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