Yesterday the House of Lords published a report into the UK’s digital advertising market.  It includes: a call for a CMA study into whether the market is working fairly for businesses and consumers; proposals for enhancing workforce skills and attracting international talent; and, for those who have been involved the debate about digital ads, it covers some familiar themes: Measuring ad effectiveness.  While acknowledging the undoubted benefits of digital advertising, the report cites calls from…

The new provision on the banning of unjustified geoblocking in online sales is at the heart of the EU Commission’s aspiration and effort to create a real Digital Single Market within the European Union. The term “geoblocking” stands for any type of technical or contractual discrimination based on the nationality or residence of a customer. It is a common phenomenon on today’s Internet. Users are often rerouted and offered differing conditions and prices depending on their…

Towards the end of 2015 the European Commission delivered two proposals for reforms to the EU’s e-commerce regulatory landscape (the “Draft Directives”): a proposal for a directive to harmonize rules regarding the supply of digital content (the “Digital Content Directive”); and a proposal for a directive to harmonize rules regarding the distance sale of goods (the “Distance Goods Directive”). These proposals form part of the Commission’s Digital Single Market strategy and were promised in the…

News site Politico this week leaked a draft proposal for an EU Regulation on addressing geo-blocking and other forms of discrimination based on place of residence or establishment, or nationality within the Single Market.  (And as a reminder – the phrase “geo-blocking” in this context refers to access limitations to websites generally rather than blocking audio-visual content – and indeed this is specifically excluded from the scope of the proposal (see below).) As we reported…

DSM Watch: on 24 February the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) organised a conference in London on the European Commission’s proposals under its Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy for the directive for distance sales of goods and the directive for the sale of digital content.  Our DSM Task Force team is a multi-jurisdiction, cross-practice group working together to keep you informed as the initiatives under the DSM strategy roll out. The workshop was attended…

In its decision in Sanoma Media v Viestintävirasto the Court of Justice of the European Union signals a technical but potentially significant clarification in the application of the Audio Visual Media Services (AVMS) Directive. This may trigger some national regulators to re-examine their approach and some broadcasters may, in turn, face pressure to adjust the amount of advertising content within their schedules or their presentation of that content. The Directive, currently subject to possible…