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Comment by matthewmacleod | Hacker News Reader

That's a really silly argument.

American companies sign agreements with other American companies – that's fine. But when they want to sell into the EU, then it's fair for them to obey the law in EU states. One of the primary goals of the EU/EEA is to serve as a single market – and the entire practice of 'geoblocking' runs counter to this. Offering content to consumers in one EU state and not another segments the single market in a way that I'm surprised hasn't already been dealt with!

Your shoe market analogy isn't quite apt – we're not discussing whether or not companies have to be forced to offer content to the EU, but whether they are permitted to segment the market when they do sell to the EU.

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Does every european company have to sell all its products in all countries? Or would it only be a requirement for American entertainment companies?

I did discuss this, but maybe I wasn't clear.

Every EU company does not currently have to sell their products in every EU country. Neither does every American entertainment company.

The proposals, so far as I can tell, advocate a change in EU legislation such that digital goods cannot be sold to some EU countries and not others, or that EU consumers cannot be prevented from purchasing goods offered in another member state. Any such legislation will almost certainly apply to both EU and international companies. This is an idea that is very in-line with the single market goals of the EU, and I'm surprised that you seem to think otherwise.

There are proposals to eliminate geoblocking for physical goods sold over ecommerce sites as well.

True, but it is important to clarify that nobody right now is proposing to force companies to ship to other EU member states if they don't want to -- making the elimination of website blocking and the obligation to accept e.g. all EU credit cards/billing addresses that is on the agenda a lot less consequential in practice.

There are plans to work on shipping as well though. Right now the prizes can vary widely in the EU and people want to harmonize that. Once you have that part figured out, it won't take long until companies are going to be forced to ship to everywhere within the EU.

Shipping is a different issue, but yes, every european company has to serve all european customers. If you have a shoe shop, you're not mandated to open a branch everywhere but if a foreigner from different EU country comes to buy then it would be illegal to decline them based on their citizenship, country of residence or country of their creditcard - in the exact same manner as currently online services are currently declining to serve customers based on their estimated location or nationality.

In a similar manner, if you're a manufacturer and want to sell shoes a wholesaler in e.g. Germany, then you're not obligated to sell them in other countries but you are prohibited from mandating that they must be sold only in Germany - the wholesaler and their customers are free to re-distribute them in neighbouring Austria even if you don't want them to.

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