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Court of Justice judgement pulls plug on audiovisual geo-blocking

Published on 09.12.2020

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PRESS RELEASE - 09.12.2020

Today, the Court of Justice of the EU, although ruling in favour of Groupe Canal+’s appeal on procedural grounds, confirmed that the General Court was right in its assessment of the anti-competitive nature of the clauses in its judgement of 12 December 2018.

Monique Goyens, Director General of The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), commented:

“The ruling of the EU’s top Court confirming that geo-blocking clauses are not compatible with the EU’s Single Market is an important precedent. It is excellent news for consumers who want to access films and movies from any provider no matter where they live in the EU.

Now it’s up to EU legislators to stop paying lip service to the Digital Single Market and finally take action to allow consumers to access audiovisual services offered in other Member States.”

BEUC was a party in the CJEU proceedings (C-132/19 P) and intervened before the General Court in support of the European Commission (T-873/16) and is an interested third party in the cross-border pay-tv competition case (AT.40023).

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