The Commission undertook an inquiry in e-commerce sector with the purpose of gathering market information on how better understand to what extent any barriers erected by companies affect new web-trade markets. One of the issues in existing barriers to e-trade is geo-blocking, which can restrict free trade among the EU states.

The Commission gathered information on geo-blocking as part of its ongoing antitrust sector inquiry into the e-commerce sector. In particular, the replies from more than 1400 retailers and digital content providers from all 28 EU Member States show that geo-blocking is common in the EU for both consumer goods and digital content.

View the results here.