Geo-blocking at the checkout: the written walkthrough

Myth · A site organises its shopfronts by country: showing me mine is its most normal right.

The myth: “automatic redirection is just how the web works” The official page of the Union describes your situation word for word, example included: several versions of a site may exist, but you cannot be automatically redirected to one without your permission. The site may SUGGEST its local version; until you explicitly agree, you must be able to access the one you had chosen.

“Where several versions of a traders' website exist, you cannot be automatically redirected, unless you give your permission. For example, if you live in France and you choose directly to go to a .be website (Belgium), the trader can suggest that you might want to consult the .fr version of their website. However, unless you give your explicit permission for this redirection, you should have access to the .be website you originally selected.”

In plain words: suggesting is allowed, imposing is not. The official example is literally yours: a French resident choosing a .be site.

Myth · Geo-blocking is banned: so they are obliged to deliver to France, at the Belgian price.

The myth: “no geo-blocking means delivery everywhere” This is the Regulation's first honest limit: it aligns CONDITIONS, it does not extend delivery zones. The official page of the Union puts it without ambiguity: it is the purchase WITHOUT cross-border delivery, collected from the trader or delivered inside its zone, that gives you the same prices and offers as local buyers. Demanding delivery to your own country is claiming a right that is not written.

“if you buy goods online without cross-border delivery […] you should have access to the same prices and special offers as buyers living in that EU country. You cannot be charged more or prevented from buying something just because you live in another country.”

In plain words: the right operates inside their delivery zone, pick-up included. It does not create a new zone.

Myth · Besides, 154 € versus 189 € is already illegal in itself: the Regulation imposes the same price everywhere in the Union.

The myth: “one market, one price” Second honest limit: the Regulation does not harmonise prices. It expressly allows general conditions, prices included, that differ from one Member State to another, provided they are offered on a non-discriminatory basis to customers in a given territory. What it opens for you is ACCESS to those local conditions when you fit one of the written cases, not their unification.

“2. The prohibition set out in paragraph 1 shall not prevent traders from offering general conditions of access, including net sale prices, which differ between Member States or within a Member State and which are offered to customers on a specific territory or to specific groups of customers on a non-discriminatory basis.”

In plain words: two prices on two versions of a site is allowed. Refusing you the Belgian price when you accept their Belgian conditions is not.

Myth · A foreign card is a fraud risk: the refusal is cautious, therefore justified.

The myth: “foreign, therefore suspect” The text has already settled the risk question: refusing on the basis of the card's geography is forbidden when the transaction is electronic, the authentication required by the payment services directive is fulfilled and the currency is accepted. Caution has its tool elsewhere: withholding DELIVERY until confirmation that the payment has been properly initiated, which the Regulation allows for objective reasons. Refusing your card for its country is not on that list.

“1. A trader shall not, within the range of means of payment accepted by the trader, apply, for reasons related to a customer's nationality, place of residence or place of establishment, the location of the payment account, the place of establishment of the payment service provider or the place of issue of the payment instrument within the Union, different conditions for a payment transaction, where: […] (b) authentication requirements are fulfilled pursuant to Directive (EU) 2015/2366; and (c) the payment transactions are in a currency that the trader accepts.”

In plain words: the security is already in the written conditions, strong authentication first. Once they are met, geographic “caution” has no basis left.

Myth · If they demand a Belgian bank account for the direct debit, all that is left is to open one.

The myth: “their country, their bank account” The location of the payment account appears word for word in the list of forbidden grounds: within the means it accepts, the trader may not treat you differently because your account sits elsewhere in the Union. Demanding a national account for a direct debit is precisely applying a different condition based on that location.

“A trader shall not, within the range of means of payment accepted by the trader, apply, for reasons related to a customer's nationality, place of residence or place of establishment, the location of the payment account, the place of establishment of the payment service provider or the place of issue of the payment instrument within the Union, different conditions for a payment transaction”

In plain words: your account has the right to be French at a Belgian merchant. The list of forbidden grounds names the account's location in full.

Myth · Geo-blocking is banned: every streaming catalogue in Europe must open to me at the local price.

The myth: “geo-blocking is dead, long live the 27 catalogues” The official page of the Union spells the warning out: copyright protected media are often covered by different licensing agreements in different countries, and the same access to the same products at the same price is not guaranteed everywhere. The geo-blocking Regulation excludes those services from its access article. Your lever is not here.

“Copyright protected media, such as films, ebooks and music, are often covered by different licensing agreements in different countries. Therefore you may not always have access to the same products at the same price in all EU countries.”

In plain words: for films, music and e-books, the official warning is explicit: identical access everywhere is not promised.

Myth · Then everything online is excluded: cloud, hosting, concert tickets, same fight as streaming.

The myth: “online, therefore excluded” The exclusion targets catalogues of protected works, not the whole digital economy. The official page of the Union quotes its own examples: electronically supplied services such as cloud services or website hosting, and services provided at the trader's premises, amusement park, hotel, car rental. For all of that, the same prices as local buyers.

“The same rules apply when you buy services provided at the trader's premises, for example when you buy entry tickets for an amusement park, book a hotel, rent a car, or when you buy electronically supplied services (such as cloud services or website hosting), you are entitled to have access to the same prices as local buyers.”

In plain words: cloud, hosting, tickets, hotels, cars: same prices as the locals. The only enclave is the copyright catalogues.

Myth · A shop established in another country is out of reach: from where I live, nobody can do anything.

The myth: “foreign seller, lost dispute” Cross-border trade is the very heart of this Regulation, not its blind spot. Practical assistance to consumers is provided for by Article 8 in every Member State, and enforcement by Article 7: the designated bodies coordinate precisely because the trader is elsewhere. Here, it is the purely domestic dispute that is the exception, not yours.

“1. Each Member State shall designate a body or bodies responsible for adequate and effective enforcement of this Regulation.”

In plain words: twenty-seven countries, enforcement bodies everywhere, and an assistance network for cross-border disputes. Distance immunises nobody.

Myth · For a 35 € gap, no body will lift a finger: I move on.

The myth: “too small to report” Member States must lay down measures applicable to infringements, and the text imposes three adjectives on them: effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Dissuasion feeds on reports, not on amounts: your 35 € file documents a practice applied to every customer of a country. That is exactly the material enforcement bodies need.

“2. Member States shall lay down the rules setting out the measures applicable to infringements of the provisions of this Regulation and shall ensure that they are implemented. The measures provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.”

In plain words: the infringement is measured by the practice, not by your receipt. Reporting it triggers measures designed to dissuade.