Geo-blocking: addressing single market fragmentation is the best way to avoid differential treatment

Geo-blocking is a measure to block or limit access to a certain service, or to redirect and provide alternative treatment based on the customer’s location. In most cases, geo-blocking is the consequence of something not working properly in the single market. At the 21 September European Competition and Consumer Day in Luxembourg, Guido Lobrano stressed that banning geo-blocking per se is incorrect. It is as tackling a symptom instead of its cause. Companies and consumers have a shared interest in not being subject to unjustified differential treatment. But there are objective and justified reasons for different treatment, linked to fragmented legislation, different market conditions, payment issues and many more. Discriminatory practices must be addressed on a case-by-case basis by enforcing the existing single market rules, while tackling the remaining single market problems that are at their origin.