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Geo-blocking is illegal on all counts and the European Commission, as the EU’s competition watchdog, will waste no time in enforcing EU anti-trust rules against any trader which seeks to impede cross-border trade. This has been made amply clear by the recenNo to geo-blocking
Geo-blocking is illegal on all counts and the European Commission, as the EU’s competition watchdog, will waste no time in enforcing EU anti-trust rules against any trader which seeks to impede cross-border trade. This has been made amply clear by the recent Commission’s Statement of Objections addressed to Valve, owner of the Steam video game distribution platform, and five videogame publishers, alleging a breach by these entities of EU competition rules. The EU’s unjustified geo-blocking regulation which came into force on December 3, 2018, clearly prohibits geo-blocking and other geographically-based restrictions across Europe. Any tactics employed by traders which serve to undermine online shopping and cross-border sales across EU member states, are therefore clearly illegal. This regulation applies, among other goods, to PC video games distributed on CDs, DVDs but not to downloads. The anti-trust proceedings which the Commission opened against Valve and the video game publishers reaffirm the objective of the regulation, namely that of allowing consumers to truly benefit from a digital single market. Valve, via Steam, digitally distributes PC video games from each of the... Read more