New Consumer Rights for all Online Shoppers

A provision in a 2023 EU Directive aimed at the distance marketing of consumer financial services (Directive (EU) 2023/2673) which is due to come into force in June 2026 (New Directive), will provide consumers with new rights in respect of all online sales of good and services - not just financial ones. 

The 2011 Consumer Rights Directive introduced a cooling off period giving consumers a right to change their minds about a product or service they bought online. Subject to certain exceptions (e.g. for perishable or personalised goods) they have 14 days to withdraw from the purchase. For goods, that right must be exercised within 14 days of delivery; for services, within 14 days of concluding the contract. The consumer does not have to give any reason for the withdrawal and cannot be penalised for it.

New rule

The New Directive extends the consumer’s rights and a seller’s obligations even further. Sellers must now provide consumers with an easily accessible withdrawal function. In practical terms this will be a button and must be labelled “withdraw from contract here” or use similar unambiguous wording. It must be easy to find, continuously available and clearly visible during the withdrawal period.

The procedure for exercising the right to withdraw must not be more onerous than the procedure for entering into the contract. Consumers should not have to undertake burdensome procedures to locate or access the withdrawal function, such as downloading an application if the contract was not concluded via that application. Instead, sellers must provide an easily accessible withdrawal function - for example by providing hyperlinks on their website to help consumers navigate their way to the withdrawal function. 

The consumer should be able to declare their withdrawal and provide or confirm the necessary information to identify the contract. If a consumer has already provided their information, for example by logging in to the retailer’s website, they should be able to confirm their withdrawal from the contract without having to provide further information.

Where a consumer has purchased multiple goods or services from the seller within the same contract, that consumer must have the option to withdraw from part of the contract in question instead of withdrawing from the whole contract. 

Once the consumer uses the withdrawal function to exercise their right to withdraw from the contract, the seller must acknowledge receipt of the withdrawal on a durable medium (i.e. by email) to the consumer as soon as reasonably practicable.

Timing

This new right is contained in a Directive, which must be transposed into Irish law by legislation. The EU Commission has set a deadline of June 2026 for this to come into effect. At the time of writing, Ireland has not yet published the required legislation.

Sanctions

The New Directive does not specify what sanctions retailers will face if they fail to comply with the new rules. Instead, it requires Members States to set out penalties for infringements and to create effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties and to ensure that those penalties are enforced in accordance with existing consumer legislation (the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation). So, the Irish transposing legislation is expected to include fines which may be imposed through administrative procedures or through legal proceedings.  The CCPC will likely be granted enforcement powers to monitor the implementation of this New Directive. 

What retailers must do

Firstly, from an IT perspective, they will need to newly configure their UI/UX on their website and/or App to incorporate this new feature.
Terms and conditions will need to be updated to inform consumers about this new functionality, how to find it and how to use it.
Staff may need to be trained in how to operate it and “what to do” if the button gets pushed.

For more information, please contact either of the authors Victor Timon and Amber Barnwell from the Technology team at Byrne Wallace Shields LLP.