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POSITIONS 11 March 2025

AIM urges EU to preserve competition law and reject extending Geo-blocking Regulation to B2B markets

AIM, the European Brands Association, calls on EU policymakers to uphold competition law for business-to-business (B2B) trade and refrain from extending the Geo-blocking Regulation beyond its original consumer (B2C) scope. 

 With €276 billion in consumer goods traded within the EU annually, the sector is a key driver of growth, innovation, and investment. AIM warns that this extension would increase costs, reduce investment and limit product availability, undermining Europe’s thriving consumer goods sector — worth around €276 billion in annual intra-EU trade — and jeopardising the more than €81 billion that it reinvests each year in innovation, sustainability, and growth. 

Originally designed to prevent consumers in e-commerce, the Regulation explicitly excludes B2B purchases intended for resale, transformation, or processing, which are already governed by EU competition law. AIM’s analysis finds no credible evidence of territorial supply restrictions imposed by manufacturers; instead, cross-border price differences typically stem from taxation, logistics, local demand and retailers’ own pricing strategies. 

 Key concerns raised by AIM: 

  • A uniform EU-wide wholesale price is neither practical nor beneficial – enforcing a single price would likely increase costs in some national markets, reduce market-driven investment and limit product availability. 
  • Extending the Geo-blocking Regulation to B2B markets would disrupt brand reputation and market access – for example, selective and exclusive distribution arrangements play a crucial role in ensuring high-quality, trusted brands in diverse European markets. 
  • Regulatory focus should be on removing real Single Market barriers – issues such as fragmented VAT regimes, packaging rules and labelling requirements pose far more tangible challenges to cross-border trade than so-called TSCs. 

AIM urges policymakers to focus on genuine Single Market improvements, using evidence-based measures rather than duplicating or expanding consumer-focused rules into B2B contexts, which could harm competition, innovation and consumer choice across the EU. 

Read here the full position paper.