Please note: I have approved and applied the following SPaG amendment.

Geo-Blocking (Amendment) Bill

A

BILL

TO

amend the Consumer Rights (Information) Act to include further provisions against the unfair market practice of unlawful geoblocking, and for connected purposes.

BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows —

Section 1: Amendments to the Consumer Rights (Information) Act 2023

(1) The Consumer Rights (Information) Act 2023 is amended as follows.

(2) Insert after Section 1(e) —

(f) ‘Geo-blocking’ refers to technology that restricts access, increases barriers and discriminates against prices to online goods and services based upon the user's geographical location.
(g) ‘Objective justification’ referred to in Section 6A is expanded in Schedule 1

(3) Insert after Chapter 2 the following —

Chapter 3: Geo-Blocking

Section 7: Discrimination in Long-distance trading

(1) An act deemed unfairly towards a consumer in the United Kingdom shall be constituted if in long-distance trading — without objective justification (see Schedule 1) — on the basis of the consumer’s nationality, place of residence, place of establishment, the registered office of the consumer’s payment service provider or the place of issue of the consumer’s means of payment-
(a) they discriminate in relation to the price or terms of payment;
(b) they block or restrict the consumer’s access to an online portal; or
(c) they redirect the consumer’s to a version of the online portal other than the one originally visited without the consumer’s consent.

(2) This Chapter does not apply to —
(a) non-economic services of general interest;
(b) financial services;
(c) electronic communication services;
(d) public transport services;
(e) services provided by temporary employment agencies;
(f) healthcare services;
(g) games of chance that require a monetary stake, including lotteries, games of chance in casinos and betting;
(h) private security services;
(i) social services of any nature;
(j) services connected with the exercise of official authority; (k) activities of notaries and court officers appointed by public authorities; and
(l) audio-visual services.

(4) Insert after Chapter 4, Section 10 —

SCHEDULE 1

(1) The following list includes — but is not limited to — grounds for objective justification to apply where, referred to in Section 6A, —
(a) shipping fees and, or, custom duties;
(b) the seller or service provider has (objective) reason to believe that its offering to UK consumers would infringe third party intellectual property rights or other rights of a third party;
(c) the seller or service provider would be in violation of UK regulatory law(s).

(2) The Secretary of State, via secondary legislation, may set regulations regarding point (1) of this Schedule.

(3) Regulations set under this Schedule shall be subject to negative procedure.

Section 2: Extent, commencement and short title

(1) This Act extends to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

(2) This Act shall come into force on the following day on which it is passed and has received Royal Assent.

(3) This Act may be cited as the Geo-Blocking (Amendment) Act.

This Bill was Submitted by The Honourable Lady u/Waffel-lol LT CMG MP for Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire, and Spokesperson for Business, Trade & Innovation, and Energy & Net-Zero, on behalf of the Liberal Democrats.

Referenced Legislation:

Consumer Rights (Information) Act 2023

Opening Speech:

Deputy Speaker,

Firstly, what is geo-blocking? Geo-blocking is the act where the availability of services and goods vary depending on one’s location. Usually resulting in price discrimination and locked content. As it stands usually people try to bypass geoblocking activities by companies through VPNs, but should this Bill pass, such an extent will no longer be necessary. Not all geoblocking however is unfair, such as instances where consumers in certain countries may face higher prices due to shipping costs, custom duties or regulatory limitations. This Bill permits those cases as included in the Schedule 1 amendment clause.

What this Bill addresses particularly are what constitute unfair geoblocking, which lacks the reasonable grounds for such discrimination in order to deceive consumers and distort markets. Given this relates to the Act I authored last term on consumer rights, this Bill amends my original Act to include these new provisions addressing geoblocking. The Liberal Democrats are fundamentally committed to developing an economy that is both free and fair and this marks a key step in that. Already our economic counterparts have adopted similar laws against geo-blocking such as the EU in recent years. So action is important In order to improve consumer rights and fair market practices and subsequent competition. We are working to prevent unfair geoblocking and price discrimination practices against British customers in distance commerce offers. Whereby UK customers shall no longer be subject to significantly higher prices for goods and services compared to customers in neighbouring countries. Bringing forward a ban on geo-blocking to ensure that our customers are not discriminated against when purchasing goods and services online

This division will end at 10pm on the 13th December.