@c2h5oh,

the U.S., Canada and the EU all have different regulatory conditions for public Radio LAN (WiFi) use in most frequency bands, especially the 5 GHz band. You can read about those differences here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5.0_GHz_(802.11j)_WLAN

As for the EU, vendors are required by law to lock down the firmware for devices to be deployed in the EU according to EU regulatory conditions.

In the EU we can buy products that are against the law, but you are not allowed to use them. The sale is not forbidden, the use is (yes, that's quite strange).

@c2h5oh, you might want to read article 10 (»Obligations of manufacturers«) of EU directive 2014/53/EU, which demands from vendors to ensure technical restrictions, so that their devices don't interfere with frequencies not allowed for RLAN use:

Quote:

1. When placing their radio equipment on the market, manufacturers shall ensure that it has been designed and 
manufactured in accordance with the essential requirements set out in Article 3.

2. Manufacturers shall ensure that radio equipment shall be so constructed that it can be operated in at least one 
Member State without infringing applicable requirements on the use of radio spectrum.

[...]

10. In cases of restrictions on putting into service or of requirements for authorisation of use, information available 
on the packaging shall allow the identification of the Member States or the geographical area within a Member State 
where restrictions on putting into service or requirements for authorisation of use exist.

End quote.

Also note that an EU directive is not a law (the EU is not a state, thanks God!), but EU countries make their laws more or less in accordance to EU directives. Regarding RLAN use, most EU countries took over the restrictions from the german §55 Telekommunikationsgesetz (German telecommunication law), which clearly restricts the frequency range for public use of the 5 GHz RLAN band for vendors and users. Use of other frequencies is not allowed for the public and vendors must ensure that their publicly available devices can't be abused by people selecting frequencies outside this defined range (not to speak of DFS).

Fact is, that the german law forbids any use of frequencies outside the allowed RLAN frequency band for the public.

I remember that EU bureaucrats once were discussing about forcing vendors to cryptographically sign their firmwares to prevent people uploading a modified firmware. Maybe it's this discussion which you are referring to as »lock down«, then you're right: the EU countries couldn't (yet) come to an agreement about that crazy idea.

Of course, you could modify the software to use settings for a different regulatory domain, say to increase Tx power and/or to use frequencies the chip can handle b/c they are allowed in other countries. But if you get caught doing so by law enforcement in Germany, they will size your WLAN equipment and impose a penalty. And they will sooner or later become aware of such an abuse, e.g. if commercial or military users of the 5 GHz band notice interferences caused by an unknown device. In this case those users will inform the authorities about any troubles and the latter will send one of their measuring vehicles which will track down the troublemaker.

People often don't believe this, even not when they have been caught. This is a message I received months ago from an user of this forum:

Hi R1D2, Sorry to bother, but I have a question maybe stupid but I need to know it... Is the TL-ANT2412D antenna fixed at 12dBi gain? I had some local issues with the EIRP law and the guys told me that it has a fixed gain of 12dBi and my transmit power must be 8dBm. Is this true? Regards, XXXXXX

If you think this information is wrong, you can try to file a feature request to TP-Link to have them remove all region-specific restrictions from their firmwares. But I think such a feature request won't have any change because, for example, Pharos firmware once had been unrestricted in first releases – users could choose their region –, but this was removed in later firmware versions, maybe due to pressure from authorities or maybe due to too much abuse.