The way Irish users view Netflix abroad is about to change, thanks to a new statement made by the European Union on digital subscriptions.

As of April 1, 2018, Irish Netflix users will now access the Irish Netflix library when accessing the site while travelling to another EU member state.

Up until now, when you used your Netflix account abroad, you would be greeted by the library available in the country that you were visiting.

While this will continue to be the case while visiting countries outside the EU, things are set to change in Europe, beginning in April.


The change will come into effect as a part of the European Union's newest addition to their Digital Single Market initiative.

The European Commission issued a statement on the new changes yesterday.

"Citizens are at the core of all our digital initiatives. As of 1 April, wherever you are travelling to in the EU, you will no longer miss out on your favourite films, TV series, sports broadcasts, games or e-books, that you have digitally subscribed to at home.

"The rules will apply to paid-for services, but providers of free content may opt in. Providers of online content will also benefit from the new rules. They will no longer have to acquire licences for other territories where their subscribers are travelling to."

Buzz.ie reached out to Netflix UK & Ireland to enquire as to how this new directive would affect Irish Netflix users' usage abroad, and they offered us the following statement.

"Netflix subscribers can already enjoy watching Netflix everywhere where the service is available.


"As of April 1st, under new EU rules, subscribers from EU member states travelling within the EU will be able to take their home catalogue with them for a limited period of time."

For the most part, this is good news for Irish Netflix users, meaning that they will they be able to access all their favourite Irish content from other EU countries.

The trade-off is that we won't get to browse the weird and wonderful collections of content available in other EU member countries while abroad, but we're sure we'll survive somehow.