Commerce: Consumer Rights Directive
- The EU Council and Parliament have adopted the Directive on Consumer Rights (DCR). It provides the latter with additional guarantees in distance and off-premises contexts (door-to-door, excursions). Concerning payments, surcharge fees may be applied by the merchant to a given means of payments. This is also catered for in the PSD but the DCR makes the difference by limiting those fees to the charges effectively borne by the merchant (art. 19).
- The consumer can generally return goods bought online within a fortnight of receiving them and get full refund (without additional charges or indication of motives). This right applies from the day when the last item has been received, or the first one in case of subscription. The customer has fourteen days to return the goods, at the merchant’s expense and using the cheapest delivery standard. If the delivery exceeds thirty days after contract signature, the customer is entitled to get refund and to terminate the contract. Some goods and services however are exempted: car rental, rapidly deteriorating goods, sealed or customised goods, or items the price of which depends on market fluctuations out of the merchant’s control, etc.
- The customer must benefit from “clear and comprehensive” information prior to signing the contract, e.g. “the manner in which the price is to be calculated” where it cannot be known in advance, as well as the existence of the right of withdrawal.
- The consumer will benefit from advanced protection with regards to previous EU legislation (1985-1999). New charges incur to the merchant in case of withdrawal, and uncertainty is created in the merchant’s cash management during nearly a one-month period (twice fourteen days, art. 11). Moreover, failure to inform the customer of the withdrawal right further reduces his obligations: he can then withdraw during a one year period, which impacts the merchant’s finances even more.
- The new Directive has to be transposed into national laws by beginning 2014. It does not apply to financial services. In France however, the transposition of the PSD has not liberalised surcharging (PSD, art. 50): charging the use of a given means of payment is still forbidden in all cases (art. L-112-12 of the Code Monétaire et Financier). This will have to be aligned in the coming DCR transposition.