Digital borders in Europe to remain

The European Parliament has today adopted a new regulation that will ensure that Europeans who buy or subscribe to online content services are able to access them when they travel in other EU countries. Services like Netflix and Spotify will now be obliged to enable cross-border portability of their services for subscribers travelling to another country within the European Union.

Greens/EFA shadow rapporteur Julia Reda welcomes the changes, but says further steps are needed to bring an end to geoblocking.

"This is a baby step towards better cross-border access to digital content for EU citizens. We’re pleased to have secured sensible limits to protect customers' privacy so that the new right does not lead to additional tracking of their whereabouts.

However, we still have far to go to truly tear down digital borders between member states. These changes should not be confused with an end to geoblocking. EU citizens permanently on the wrong side of a border, like members of minority language communities, will continue to be refused access to streaming content. We will keep pushing for a genuine end to geoblocking."

Notes
Multiple NGOs, including the European Language Equality Network and the European Student's Forum (AEGEE) today joined MEP Reda and MEP Josep-Maria Terricabras (European Free Alliance) in urging the abolishment of geoblocking within the EU in an open letter. The letter can be viewed here: http://extranet.greens-efa-service.eu/public/media/file/1/5172