A customer from Czechia or Hungary, where we do not deliver, wants to order from us. Must we sell to them, and can we charge a different price?

A Slovak online shop delivers only within Slovakia, and its system rejects an order with a Czech or Hungarian address or redirects the customer to another language version. Regulation (EU) 2018/302 of the European Parliament and of the Council on addressing unjustified geo-blocking prohibits such treatment where it is based on the customer’s nationality, place of residence or place of establishment. However, it does not require you to extend delivery to other countries or standardise prices. The Regulation applies directly throughout the Union and does not apply to purely domestic situations (Article 1(2)). It protects both consumers and businesses where they buy exclusively for end use (Article 2, point 13), rather than for resale, processing or rental (recital 16).

You must sell, but need not deliver abroad

The key rule for selling goods is:

The following quotation is reproduced in its original language:

Obchodník nesmie uplatňovať odlišné všeobecné podmienky prístupu k tovaru alebo službám z dôvodov súvisiacich so štátnou príslušnosťou, s miestom bydliska alebo sídla zákazníka, ak zákazník chce: a) kúpiť tovar od obchodníka a tento tovar sa buď doručuje na miesto v inom členskom štáte, do ktorého obchodník ponúka doručenie vo všeobecných podmienkach prístupu alebo tento tovar možno vyzdvihnúť na mieste, na ktorom sa zákazník a obchodník dohodli, v členskom štáte, v ktorom obchodník ponúka túto možnosť vo všeobecných podmienkach prístupu […]

čl. 4 ods. 1 nariadenia (EÚ) 2018/302

You must therefore sell to a customer from Hungary on the same basis as to a Slovak customer if they have the goods delivered to a Slovak address or collection point, or collect them from your premises if you offer collection in person. Recital 28 of the Regulation expressly states that there is no obligation to deliver goods across borders where the trader does not otherwise offer this. The customer is responsible for arranging transport home from the delivery location (recital 23).

Website access, redirection and payment

You must not block or restrict a customer’s access to your website because of their nationality, place of residence or place of establishment (Article 3(1)). You may redirect them to a version for another country only with their explicit consent, and even then they must retain easy access to the version they originally wanted to visit (Article 3(2)). Otherwise, you may block or restrict access or redirect the customer only where required by law, and you must clearly explain the reason to them (Article 3(3)).

For the payment methods you accept, you must not apply different payment conditions based on where the customer is from, where their account is held or the Member State in which their card was issued (Article 5(1)). This applies to electronic payments by card, credit transfer or direct debit in a currency you accept, provided they meet the requirements for payer authentication. If you accept cards of a particular brand and category, you cannot reject a card of the same brand and category issued by a Hungarian bank.

When you may charge different prices

The Regulation does not prevent you from offering different terms, including prices, in different Member States, provided you offer them within a particular territory or to a particular group of customers on a non-discriminatory basis (Article 4(2)). You may therefore have a Czech version of your online shop with prices in Czech koruna. However, a customer from Czechia may choose the Slovak version and buy on its terms, including its prices and delivery arrangements (Article 4(1) and recital 27).

Compliance with the prohibition does not in itself mean that you must meet the non-contractual requirements for goods imposed by the customer’s state, such as its labelling rules (Article 4(3)). Nor does selling under the Regulation in itself constitute directing activities to the customer’s state for the purposes of determining the applicable law and the jurisdiction of the courts (Article 1(6)). The prohibition does not apply where another legal provision prohibits you from selling to particular customers or into a particular territory (Article 4(5)). Clauses in distribution agreements concerning passive sales that would require you to breach the prohibition are automatically void (Article 6(2)). How passive sales are addressed in distribution agreements is discussed in the article on prices, territory and online sales in a distribution network.

Who enforces the rules

In Slovakia, the Slovak Trade Inspection supervises compliance with the Regulation (Section 26(8)(c) of Act No. 108/2024 Z. z.). For a breach, it may impose a fine ranging from 100 euros to 1 % of turnover for the preceding accounting period, capped at 100 000 euros (Section 43(1)(b)). The Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic assists consumers in disputes (Section 24(h)). In Czechia, the Czech Trade Inspection Authority supervises compliance with the Regulation (Section 23(2)(f) of Act No. 634/1992 Sb.), and breaches of the prohibitions under Articles 3 to 5 constitute an administrative offence (Section 24(6)(a)). The original Slovak Act No. 299/2019 Z. z., on which some older guidance is based, was repealed with effect from 1 July 2024.

We will configure your online shop’s delivery arrangements, payment methods and language versions so that you do not reject customers from other countries in breach of the Regulation, and incorporate the delivery terms into your terms and conditions through our legal services for online shops. If you are preparing a separate version for the Slovak or Czech market, see also the question on whether your website and terms and conditions must be in Slovak.