In short. Within the regulation’s scope, shops must allow access regardless of EU nationality, residence or business establishment unless a restriction is legally necessary.
Definition: Within its scope, the EU Geo-blocking Regulation prohibits a shop from blocking or limiting website access because of a customer's nationality, residence or business establishment. Article 3 permits restrictions necessary to comply with applicable EU law or national law consistent with EU law.
Key facts
- As of October 2026, Regulation (EU) 2018/302, Article 3(1), prohibits country-based access restrictions imposed through technological measures or otherwise.
- The European Commission's Questions & Answers, question 2.2.1, explains that customers can in principle access existing language versions and items published on a website, subject to applicable legislation.
- The EUR-Lex summary explains that the regulation leaves traders free to limit their cross-border delivery service.
Which visitors and websites fall within the rule?
An online interface is software that gives customers access to a trader's goods or services with a view to a transaction. The regulation's Article 2(16) includes websites, parts of websites and mobile applications in this definition.
Article 2(13) covers consumers who are EU nationals or residents, and businesses established in an EU member state, seeking goods or services within the EU solely for end use. Article 1(2) excludes situations confined entirely to a single member state. Article 1(3) also excludes specified service sectors; recital 8 identifies audiovisual services and access to retail financial services among these exclusions.
What counts as an access restriction?
The prohibition in Article 3(1) covers both blocking and limiting access. The regulation's recital 18 expressly describes technologies that locate customers through an IP address or satellite positioning coordinates. Country detection can therefore be the mechanism for a prohibited restriction when access depends on the customer's nationality, residence or establishment.
The Commission's guidance, question 2.2.2, also examines form design. Its example concerns a required residence address field that accepts only domestic geographic details, with no way or clear instructions to submit foreign details. The guidance says this interface needs adapting because it makes ordering virtually impossible for a customer resident abroad; it distinguishes residence details from permitted delivery-address limits.
When is blocking legally permitted?
Under Article 3(3), blocking, limiting access or redirecting a customer is permitted where necessary to comply with a legal requirement governing the trader's activities. That requirement must come from EU law or from a member state's law consistent with EU law.
The same provision requires a clear and specific explanation of why the restriction is necessary. The explanation must use the language of the interface the customer originally sought to access. Recital 21 identifies laws prohibiting the display of particular content in certain member states as a possible basis.
The Commission's question 2.2.4 illustrates this exception with a French website subject to a French court order restricting access during registered-trademark litigation. This is an example supplied by the guidance.
Related terms
- Can a shop redirect EU visitors to a national site without consent?
- Does the Geo-blocking Regulation require delivery to every EU country?
FAQ
Can I redirect visitors to their national shop instead?
Article 3(2) requires explicit consent for a redirect based on nationality, residence or establishment to a different national version, subject to the legal exception in Article 3(3). The regulation requires the originally requested version to remain easily accessible after a consented redirect.
Does allowing access require me to deliver to every EU country?
No. The Commission's question 2.3.1 confirms that the regulation imposes no obligation to deliver across the EU, while prohibiting discrimination in the situations it specifies.
Sources
- European Parliament and Council, "Regulation (EU) 2018/302", 28 February 2018
- European Commission, "Questions & Answers on the Geo-blocking Regulation in the context of e-commerce", 2018
- EUR-Lex, "Geo-blocking: addressing discriminatory treatment of customers", 16 October 2018
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