Does EU consumer law apply on products purchased in the EU but used abroad?
<p>A product (computer) was purchased in a EU country, from a EU retailer, by a EU citizen, and paid for from a EU bank account, but is currently being used outside the EU (in Asia) because the owner is abroad. The product has now developed a significant fault. </p>

<p>It is now outside of the 1-year warranty offered by the manufacturer, but is well within the time frame for <em>warranties against defects</em> guidelines of the EU overall as well as of the specific EU country. If the owner were in the EU right now, the manufacturer, or at least the vendor, would be obliged to give a repair/replacement (based on experience of owners currently in the EU). </p>

<p>The question is, does the owner resident outside the EU  temporarily, have any recourse under EU consumer protection law in this case? Can s/he make a claim under EU consumer law being resident outside the EU, or must he get back to the continent to have legal protection? </p>

<p>You have the right to get the computer fixed by the original seller if it doesn't last for a reasonable amount of time. For that you would have to go to the original seller or return the computer to the original seller. </p>

<p>You may claim your rights for example in the UK for up to five or six years. Say this computer breaks after 18 months in Australia, you could gather proof in Australia that (a) it is broken and (b) it had a problem when you received it. Then you would have over three years time to take it back to the UK together with that evidence. </p>

<p>Altogether, this isn't very practical. For example, the seller can just refuse a repair (whether they have the right to do so or not), and then you would have to sue them from another country, which would be very difficult in practice. </p>

european-union jurisdiction consumer-protection