Geoblocks to become a thing of the past under European Parliament measures

The days of Irish shoppers using workarounds to get online orders from other EU countries may soon be a thing of the past after the European Parliament voted in favour of measures that would stop “geo-blocking” by retailer websites.

The rules will allow buyers to shop online in the EU without being blocked from a retailer’s website or automatically re-routed to their Irish address — where products may be more expensive.

However, those hoping to access Netflix content that is on offer in other EU countries but not in Ireland will be disappointed, as the law does not cover copyrighted digital material.