The Geo-Blocking
(Enforcement) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/1153) were made on 6 November and
have effect from Monday 3 December.
These Regulations arise from the EU Geo-blocking Regulation
(2018/302) which has direct effect. However, the EU Regulation requires Member
States to designate a body or bodies responsible for adequate and effective
enforcement and Article 7(2) requires Member States to lay down the rules
setting out the measures applicable to infringements.
Regulation 2 amends the Enterprise Act 2002, sch 13 so that
a contravention of the Geo-blocking Regulation by a trader may be enforced
under Part 8 of that Act if the contravention harms the collective interests of
consumers.
Regulation 3 provides that a failure of a trader to comply
with certain Articles of the Geo-blocking Regulation is a breach of an
obligation owed by a trader to a customer so that, where loss or damage is
caused by the trader to the customer, the customer may bring a civil action
against the trader in respect of that loss or damage.
Quite what caused the change from the EU’s ‘Geo-blocking’ to
the UK’s ‘Geo-Blocking’ is anyone’s guess.
