EU: Brussels wants Netflix, Amazon to adopt European movie quotas

US firms Netflix and Amazon face quotas for European movies and television shows under new Brussels proposals unveiled Wednesday that also aim to lift bloc-wide barriers for Internet shoppers.

The plan is the latest step towards what Brussels calls a digital single market, in which the European Union’s 500 million people will no longer be blocked from buying goods and services more cheaply abroad online.

“E-commerce in the EU is not functioning as smoothly as it could,” EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said at a press conference in Brussels to unveil the proposals.

The European Commission, the executive of the 28-nation European Union, called for US web streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon to devote one fifth of their content in Europe to European movies and television shows.

“With these new rules, we will uphold media pluralism, the independence of audiovisual regulators and will make sure incitement to hatred will have no room on video-sharing platforms,” said Guenther Oettinger, the EU commissioner for digital economy.

“We also want to ensure a level playing field, responsible behavior, trust and fairness in the online platforms environment,” Oettinger said.

The commission also proposed that online firms lift barriers starting next year to Internet shoppers who seek cheaper prices for goods and services on sites in different European countries.

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