Consumer information, right of withdrawal and other consumer rights

KEY POINTS

Scope

• With some exceptions, such as healthcare and social services (and financial services until June 2026), Directive 2011/83/EU covers a broad range of contracts concluded between traders and consumers, such as sales contracts³, service contracts⁴, contracts for online digital content or digital services and contracts for the supply of water, gas, electricity and district heating.
• It applies to contracts concluded in shops and to contracts concluded off-premises (e.g. at the consumer’s home) or at a distance (e.g. online), along with contracts under which the trader supplies or undertakes to supply a digital service⁵ or digital content⁶ to the consumer, and the consumer provides or undertakes to provide personal data⁷.
• It also lays down additional information obligations for the providers of online marketplaces regarding the contracts that consumers conclude with different suppliers on the online marketplace. Moreover, it establishes rules governing the transparency of price personalisation and the ranking of online offers and consumer rights when using ‘free’ online services.

Information obligations

• Before concluding a contract, traders must provide to consumers, in clear, understandable language, information such as:
  • their identity and contact details;
  • the product’s main characteristics; and
  • the conditions that apply, including payment terms, the delivery time, the performance and duration of the contract, and termination conditions.
• In shops, information that is not already obvious must be provided.
• Information requirements, particularly on the right of withdrawal, are more detailed for contracts concluded at a distance (such as online, by telephone or mail order) and for contracts concluded off-premises (e.g. where a trader visits a consumer’s home).
• Specific information requirements exist for contracts concluded on online marketplaces. Online marketplaces must:
  • inform consumers whether a third-party supplier is a trader or non-trader (i.e. another consumer);
  • warn the consumer that EU consumer protection rules do not apply to contracts concluded with non-traders; and
  • explain who is responsible for the performance of the contract: the third-party trader or the online marketplace itself.
• Traders must inform consumers when the offered price is personalised on the basis of automated decision-making.

• Directive (EU) 2024/825 amends Directive 2011/83/EU, introducing new rules to ensure that, at the point of sale, consumers are informed about the durability and reparability of products that they intend to buy. This information is designed to help them to make more sustainable purchasing choices. Traders will be required to provide consumers with the following information before they make a purchase:
  • a reminder of the legal guarantee of conformity for goods and its main aspects, including that its minimum duration is two years, clearly displayed using a harmonised notice,
  • where a producer offers a commercial guarantee of durability at no additional cost, which covers the entire good and has a duration of at least two years, and informs the trader of this, the trader must inform the consumer using the harmonised label;
  • in the case of digital content and digital services, a reminder of the existence of the legal guarantee of conformity;
  • a reminder of the existence and the conditions of after-sales services and commercial guarantees;
  • in the case of goods with digital elements, or of digital content and digital services, the minimum period during which the producer or the provider will provide software updates.
• In the case of distance contracts, amending Directive (EU) 2024/825 requires traders to inform consumers of payment and delivery terms, including environmentally-friendly delivery options, and, where applicable, how complaints are handled.
• The European Commission will adopt implementing acts specifying the layout and content of the harmonised notice and label used to inform consumers of their rights.

Consumer financial services

Amending Directive (EU) 2023/2673 introduces rules with regard to consumer financial services, such as the following

• Pre-contractual information that traders must provide to consumers before they sign a contract. Consumers must have sufficient time to process and understand this information, and make comparisons with other products so as to make an informed decision. Member States may opt to impose stricter national rules in this regard.
• The right of consumers to request human intervention so as to better understand the implications of a given contract on their financial situation, where a trader uses online tools such as chatbots.
• The requirement for Member States to introduce measures limiting the use of dark-pattern marketing techniques (interfaces that trick users into doing things they do not intend) to influence consumer’s choices.
• The addition to Directive 2011/83/EU of a ‘security net system’ for financial services that are excluded from other sectoral legislation or only partially covered by it.

Right of withdrawal

• Consumers can withdraw from distance and off-premises contracts within 14 days of the delivery of the goods⁸ or the conclusion of the service contract, subject to certain exceptions, without any explanation or cost. A standard withdrawal form provided by the seller suffices. If the consumers are not made aware of their rights, the withdrawal period is extended by 12 months.
• Exemptions apply in several circumstances, for example for perishable goods, sealed goods opened by the consumer that cannot be returned for health or hygiene reasons and hotel reservations or car rentals that are tied to specific dates. Exceptions also apply, under certain circumstances, to contracts for the supply of digital content, which is not supplied on a tangible medium, if the performance has begun. When consumers withdraw from a contract, they must refrain from using the digital content or digital service and from making it available to third parties.
• Amending Directive (EU) 2023/2673 allows consumers to exercise their right of withdrawal from all contracts concluded at a distance by requiring their providers to ensure that their interfaces offer an easy-to-find withdrawal function.

No unjustified payment costs or additional charges

• Traders must not charge consumers fees for the use of a means of payment that are higher than the cost borne by the trader for the use of such means. In many cases, charging such fees is completely forbidden in accordance with the payment services directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2366 – see summary).
• When phoning a trader to enquire or complain about the contract concluded, the consumer must not pay more than the basic telephone rate.
• Traders must have consumers’ express consent when offering additional paid-for services. Pre-ticked boxes on an order form may not be used for such payments.

Penalties

• Directive 2011/83/EU requires Member States to introduce effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties applicable to infringements of national rules transposing the directive. It also includes a list of criteria to be applied when imposing those penalties.
• Member States must ensure that when penalties are to be imposed in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 (see summary) in the context of coordinated actions in relation to major cross-border infringements, they include the possibility either to impose fines through administrative procedures or to initiate legal proceedings for the imposition of fines, or both, the maximum amount of such fines being at least 4% of the trader’s annual turnover in the Member State or Member States concerned. For cases where a fine is to be imposed in line with Regulation (EU) 2017/2394, but no information as to the trader’s annual turnover is available, Member States must introduce the possibility to impose fines, the maximum amount of which must be at least €2 million.