The European Competition Commissioner Mario Monti told a conference in Stockholm,
"as a result of complaints received about the effects of the regional coding system for DVDs, we have initiated contacts with the major film production companies… It is important that, if the complaints are confirmed on the facts, we do not permit a system which provides greater protection than the intellectual property rights themselves, where such a system could be used as a smoke-screen to allow firms to maintain artificially high prices or to deny choice to consumers."
The EU sent letters last Friday to the seven major DVD distributors to find out whether this system of regional coding is used to artificially charge higher prices in the EU than would otherwise be the case.
Also announced at the Stockholm ‘Competition Day’ was the commencing of a probe by the EU into the possible anticompetitive effects of on-line music joint ventures MusicNet and Duet. Mr Monti stated "These are important cases for the development of music services offered online to consumers, and there are potentially a number of issues which merit close examination."