Another bite into Apple’s amazing legacy

The death of Steve Jobs last week reminded us all of the magnitude of his legacy. A man that built a brand symbolised by a fruit. That fruit is today an international cultural icon.

…frustrating restrictions… prevent Maltese customers from benefitting from the full possibilities of online purchases…- Simon Busuttil

As a friend of mine had put it to me when he tried to lure me to the iPhone, this is “life-changing”. Indeed, Mr Jobs’ legacy has been life-changing for many of us. The products of his company are nowadays available pretty much everywhere in the world.

Therefore, it comes as a surprise to many that something like Apple’s online music store, iTunes, was not – at least until a few days ago – available to consumers in Malta. This has long been a cause of frustration among Maltese consumers who want to purchase online content but were prohibited from doing so because iTunes was not available to Malta.

Why should Maltese consumers be deprived from purchasing products from Apple’s online music store when consumers in many other EU countries can do so? How is it possible for iTunes to discriminate between, for instance, Maltese and British consumers when we are part of the same EU internal market? Does this not go against the rules of the EU’s Single Market? After all, the free movement of goods and services means not only the freedom to sell but also the freedom to buy.

I often received complaints along these lines. This is why, earlier this year I had brought the matter to the attention of the European Commission through a parliamentary question and I also approached Apple on behalf of my constituents.

The restrictions seemed to be rooted in two problems.

The first one has to do with intellectual property rights and making sure that these rights are not ignored when selling across borders. Intellectual property rights granted by a single member state only apply within the specific territory of that particular member state. As a result, a company selling creative content in different EU member states must obtain the right to distribute the content in the territory of each member state.

This might prove daunting and if a company feels it is not commercially viable to extend its services to that a particular country, then it simply chooses to exclude it to the chagrin of its potential clients in that country.

EU law must be revised to ensure that copyright laws are adapted to the challenges and opportunities brought about by technological developments and, in particular, the proliferation of digital content distribution. In May this year, the European Commission adopted a wide-ranging strategy on intellectual property rights and launched a consultation process on the online distribution of audiovisual works.

A second issue relates to competition law. According to EU law, companies that are in a dominant position in the market have added responsibilities to ensure that they do not abuse of their position, ultimately at the expense of consumers.

Because of the popularity of iTunes, I asked the Commission to confirm whether iTunes was required, under competition law, to make its content available to Maltese consumers. On its part, the Commission stated that although Apple’s iTunes may be the most popular online music server provider in Europe, it is not clear that any one company, including Apple, has a dominant position at this stage. Personally, I doubt it. But, at least, the pressure on Apple has paid off as, just a few days ago, news emerged that iTunes has finally agreed to open up its services to Maltese customers and to customers in a number of other European countries.

This is a welcome step forward. But it is only the first step. I expect all barriers to consumers to be removed. After all, the internal market is not just about businesses and giving them access to consumers. It is also about consumers and giving them access to products and services of their choice available in different EU countries.

In this vein, just this week, the European Commission is launching a new initiative – the European common sales law, which will widen the choice for both consumers and entrepreneurs by giving them a common set of rules when they enter into a sale, regardless of the EU country in which they are based.

I support this initiative and, only last Sunday, I was pleased to co-sign an article with European Commissioner Vivien Reding announcing it.

For far too long, online shoppers have received frustrating messages such as “This product is not available in your country”. This happens to some 40,000 Maltese consumers each year and an EU common sales law will seek to put an end to it. I will come back to this subject in this column.

In the meantime, I will be following developments closely at the European Parliament with a clear aim in mind. I want to remove the frustrating restrictions that prevent Maltese customers from benefiting from the full possibilities of online purchases, which they often face just because they are based in a small country. I want them to be able to exploit the advantages of the internal market to the full.

www.simonbusuttil.eu

Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.