In January 2020, EU and Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) published press releases stating that webshops in the EU still discriminate on the basis of nationality and place of residence. Their press releases are based on a screening performed by the EU Consumer Protection Agency.
The screening
The EU Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) is a network of authorities responsible for enforcing EU consumer laws. The CPC has performed an EU-wide sweep, which consists of a set of checks carried out on websites to identify breached of EU consumer law in a particular sector. Findings of the ‘2019 sweep on delivery and right of withdrawal’ reveal that 67% of the screened online shops might infringe EU consumer laws. Another key finding is that the one out of five of approximately 500 screened webshops did not comply with the Geo-blocking Regulation. Two-thirds of the screened webshops surveyed did not comply with the EU Consumer Rights Directive.
Geo-blocking in The Netherlands
The 2019 sweep on delivery and right of withdrawal showed that consumers on the Dutch market often could not complete online purchases through a webshop in a different EU Member State if they provided a delivery address in that country, but a billing address in The Netherlands.
For more information, please contact Martine de Koning.
Sources
European Commission Press release dated 31 January 2020
European Commission webpage regarding ‘sweeps'
Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets Press release 31 January 2020
