Skip to main content
Shaping Europe’s digital future
News article | Δημοσίευση

DigitalYou - Digital Shopping

The Digital Single Market has made it easier for consumers and retailers to buy and sell online.

Digital Shopping

Since December 2018, online shops can no longer refuse you their goods or services based on your nationality or where you live. For example, if you are in Spain and want to buy a product that’s only available on the German version of a website, you will be able to do so. If you want to book a hotel room or rent a car in another EU country, the hotel or car rental company must offer you the same price as it would to a resident of that country, and you will no longer be re-directed to a website in your own country that does not have the same offer. This is one of the many ways shopping online has been made fairer and easier.

Online shoppers buying goods in another EU country are now benefitting from more transparent prices on parcel delivery. New consumer rules protect you against unfair terms and conditions when buying online and cross-border. These include rules to simplify contracts for the online sales of goods and digital content such as films, apps, software or ebooks. You will also benefit from increased cross-border cooperation to ensure your consumer rights are upheld.

The digital age gives rise to many opportunities for businesses and the EU is aligning the contract rules for online sales of products and services in the EU. Many businesses also use platforms to market and sell their products and services. Online platforms help more than one million businesses to reach customers across the EU. Since they are often considerably bigger than the businesses that use their services, the EU is putting in place rules to ensure fairness in their interactions.