The European Commission may open antitrust investigations into price restrictions and online sales bans in the e-commerce industry, it warned Thursday.

It is concerned that consumers across the European Union may be paying more than they should for a range of physical and digital goods sold online because of restrictive practices by manufacturers and distributors.

The European Union’s goal of creating a single market for goods and services has historically been hampered by the geographical and linguistic barriers to selling across the 28-country bloc — but e-commerce can help businesses break down both of these.

However, the online market is creating barriers of its own to competition, the Commission found, potentially threatening its latest initiative, the Digital Single Market, a way of removing national barriers to online sales.

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