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Netflix and Amazon Prime accounts to be accessible anywhere in the EU following removal of digital cross-border barriers

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By Tony Connelly, Sports Marketing Reporter

February 9, 2017 | 3 min read

EU citizens will soon be able to use their Netflix, Amazon Prime and other online subscription services outside their country of residence after European Union negotiators agreed on a deal to remove cross-border barriers to the Digital Single Market strategy.

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Netflix subscribers will soon be able to use their accounts outside their country of residence

The European Parliament, Council and the Commission created the new rules to allow consumers to access online content services "the same way they access them at home" when they are in another country within the EU.

The agreement is the first related to the modernisation of EU copyright rules within the Digital Single Market strategy- the free movement of services and capital within the EU member states- and will require all providers who offer paid online content services to adhere to the new regulations.

Services that are provided without payment, such as BBC iPlayer, will be able to decide whether to offer such portability to their subscribers.

Andrus Ansip, vice-president in charge of the Digital Single Market, described the new regulation as an “important step in breaking down barriers in the Digital Single Market” and maintained that it would bring "concrete benefits" to European consumers.

"Agreements are now needed on our other proposals to modernise EU copyright rules and ensure a wider access to creative content across borders,” said Ansip. “I count on the European Parliament and Member States to make it happen".

The final draft of the new legislation is expected be completed by April and, once adopted, will then become applicable in all EU Member States by beginning of 2018.

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