Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: EC competition commissioner to propose e-commerce sector inquiry, (Mar 26, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

EC Commissioner in charge of competition policy, Margrethe Vestager, has announced a proposal to launch a competition inquiry in the e-commerce sector. The main goal of the inquiry, according to Vestager’s speech at the Bundeskartellamt International Conference on Competition, is to identify what hinders competition in e-commerce for cross-border sales.

In 2014, half of all European consumers shopped online, according to Vestager. However, less than 15 percent of European consumers bought something from across a border. She noted various reasons why people do not shop abroad, including language barriers, different national rules, and—more frequently—technical barriers that undermine cross-border trade, such as geo-blocking.

“Geo-blocking prevents consumers from accessing certain websites on the basis of their residence, or credit-card details,” Vestager stated, noting that these types of technical barriers are the result of agreements between manufacturers and content owners and distributors.

The inquiry into the e-commerce sector therefore will focus on barriers imposed by private companies to cross-border sales of goods and digital content. Information would be collected from a number of large firms—including broadcasters, manufacturers, merchants of goods sold online, and companies that run online platforms—in every country of the EU, according to Vestager.

“It is high time to remove remaining barriers to e-commerce, which is a vital part of a true Digital Single market in Europe,” Vestager stated. “The envisaged sector inquiry will help the Commission to understand and tackle barriers to e-commerce to the benefit of European citizens and business.”

Vestager will formally propose the inquiry to the Commission in May 2015. If everything goes as planned, preliminary findings will be available online in mid-2016, she said.

News: Antitrust