I've seen logbooks of EASA Modular CPL students where their PIC hour building was conducted in the U.S. with an instructor on board, yet logged as PIC "because that's allowed in the States...isn't it?". This practice is in fact fraudulent for the purpose of logging hours towards a Part-FCL Licence.
The implicit condition is of course that the flight is an instructional one (cf Admin v Hamre cited above), and it is not necessarily an act of fraud if acting in good faith.