The new rules will ban the “geo-blocking” of buyers browsing websites in another EU country, so as to enable them to  choose from which website they  buy goods or services, without being blocked or automatically re-routed to another website due to their nationality, place of residence or even their temporary location.

Traders will have to treat online shoppers from another EU country in the same way as local ones,  i.e. grant them access to the same prices or sales conditions, when they:

• buy goods (e.g. household appliances, electronics, clothes) which are delivered to a member state to which the trader offers delivery in his general conditions, or are collected at a location agreed by both parties in an EU country in which the trader offers such option (traders would not have to deliver in all EU countries, but buyers should have the option to pick up the package in a place agreed with the trader),

• receive electronically supplied services not protected by copyright, such as cloud services, firewalls, data warehousing, website hosting, or

• buy a service which is supplied in the premises of the trader or in a physical location where the trader operates, e.g. hotel stays, sports events, car rentals, music festivals or leisure park tickets.

Treating shoppers differently based on the place of issuance of a credit or debit card will also be forbidden. While traders remain free to accept whatever payment means they want, they may not discriminate within a specific payment brand based on nationality.

Copyrighted content excluded for now

Digital copyrighted content, such as e-books, downloadable music or online games, will not be covered by the new rules for the time being. However, the EU Commission must assess within two years after the entry into force of the regulation whether the ban on geo-blocking should be widened to include such content, as well as audio-visual and transport services, which are also currently excluded.

Next steps

The agreement on the geo-blocking regulation stills needs to be formally approved by Council. The new rules will be applicable nine months from the day of its publication in the EU Official Journal, i.e. before the end of this year (2018).

I am personally very happy with this one but will be interesting to see if they can do the same with stuff like Netflix because some countries subscriptions are 20% till 50% more expensive.

Well... i hope this works. If it spreads to gaming later, we should be able to change European country on PSN. That would be a good quality of life change.

Presumable this isn't going to work with PSN or steam etc?

Currently, I think you can get Horizon Frozen Wilds for 2 Euros cheaper if a mainland member buys it from the UK store.

Sony does not let you change it? Or change it for buying somemthing (cheaper) on an other region in EU?

For the moment no but technically in the future yes.    For example at the moment if I want to buy something from IKEA online it will charge me 50€ for a chair while in France the same one is 20€. If I try to change my country to France it will 'geo blocks' me and say I am in Belgium and have to pay 50 € while at the end of the year they have to allow me to buy the 20 € chair. Sure their will be more expensive delivery costs but it can still be 15€ cheaper if I buy it from the Belgian Ikea store.     e-commerce is more complicated and in the past they used loopholes for example a new game in Germany was 50€ but in Poland it was 25 €, ofcourse companies were worried that people would all buy the Polish version but they basically used a loophole and be like if you buy the Polish version it will be only playable in Polish and that's something I think EU can't do nothing about.

You cannot change country on the PSN. The one you pick at the start is the one you are stuck with.

Payment options are also fit for the country you chose. So, if you move to another country, it becomes harder to pay for stuff without a credit card. Paypal on PSN is a tragedy aswell.

Thank god we have the super government councils to look after our best interests... they will also make taxes and salaries equal among all countries right? And all the other questions that affect wages, costs and prices.

From Brazil you can make acc on USA, JP and Europe without any hussle.

lol, you guys have never imported stuff, have you?

Don't worry, you'll soon realise this doesn't make any difference besides shipping taking longer - as soon as the item arrives, your government will demand you pay an extra toll fee for importing which will end up costing you even more in the long run. At least that's how it works here in the "glorious utopia" of Sweden :)

Really? I've imported stuff from all across the globe and the only time I've had to pay a toll fee was from an expensive figurine I got from PlayAsia. If you import from other members of the EU there shouldn't be a toll fee unless you're importing special goods such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs.