Cross-border online sales in the EU

Briefing 15-07-2016

Geo-blocking practices are commonly used to restrict cross-border sales of tangible goods e.g. (e.g. clothes, electronics) as well as of electronically supplied services (e.g. cloud services) and electronically delivered content (e.g. audiovisual services, e-books). In order to give customers better access to goods and services in the Single Market, the European Commission has proposed a regulation to prevent Geoblocking and related practices which introduce discrimination – based on customers’ nationality, place of residence or place of establishment – between traders and customers in cross-border commercial transactions (See EPRS Legislation in progress briefing). Against this background, this paper provides some statistical data on: the value of cross-border online trade in the EU, the public’s interest in accessing online content cross-border, consumers’ behaviour towards online shopping, online retailers’ experience and concerns with cross-border transactions, audiovisual and online music services, and development of e-learning activities.