Businesses

The EU Distance Selling Directive was transposed into Finnish national law by incorporating the relevant provisions into the Consumer Protection Act with effect from 2001. Because it is a so-called minimum directive, the provisions on distance selling can vary from one EU country to another. In Finland, the Consumer Protection Act’s distance selling provisions are contained in Chapter 6 of the Act.

The law can not be circumvented by means of one’s own terms of contract

The provisions of the Consumer Protection Act can not be circumvented by drafting one’s own contract terms, which weaken the consumer’s legal position. That is because the distance selling provisions of the Consumer Protection Act are mandatory legislation. Thus the basic rights that the Act gives consumers must be preserved in the various terms of contract and delivery applied by companies. (Chapter 6, Section 2)

Nor, obviously, can the basic rights conferred under the Act be circumvented by stating in the terms of contract that the Consumer Protection Act does not apply to a deal at all. If the vendor of a product is a company, the buyer a consumer and the product being sold a consumer article, the Act applies to the transaction in question. (Chapter 1, Section 1)

The right of withdrawal is the general rule

The right to withdraw from, i.e. cancel, a purchase does not apply in ordinary trade, although many retail chains do grant this right. In distance commerce, however, a decision to purchase is generally based only on pictures and text. The opportunity that a retail outlet provides to examine and try the product is not generally available in distance commerce. For that reason, a cornerstone of distance commerce has always been that the customer has the opportunity to withdraw from the purchase within a certain period of time and, subject to certain conditions, can also examine the product at home.

• The period during which the right of withdrawal applies is 14 days – never less than this. Naturally, a longer period can be allowed for in the terms of contract. (Chapter 6, Section 9)
• The right of withdrawal applies to the vast majority of goods. The categories of products to which the distance selling provisions do not apply or with respect to which there is no right to withdraw from a contract are specified in the Act. For example, the distance selling provisions do not apply at all to real-estate deals. Also distance selling of financial services is subject to separate regulations.
• Articles to which the right of withdrawal does not apply include e.g. individually ordered current consumer goods (such as groceries), which have been delivered home, CD/DVD discs on which the seals have been broken by opening them, newspapers and magazines, except when sold over the phone on the initiative of the seller, or customised products that consumers have ordered. Because the product categories are specified in the Act, a company can not exclude some categories or, for example, special offer or discount products from the scope of application of the right of withdrawal. (Chapter 6, Sections 6, 7 and 16)
• The consumer must be informed of the right of withdrawal. The customer must be told that he or she has the right to withdraw from a contract and given instructions on how to do so. If there is no right of withdrawal in certain situations specified in the Act, the consumer must likewise be informed of this. (Chapter 6, Section 13)

The same right to try an article as in a shop

The Act gives consumers the right to try a distance sales product at home, because a decision to purchase is generally made only on the basis of pictures and text and the product can not be examined at that point. The general rule is that it must be possible to try and examine a product in the same way as in a shop. However, the consumer is not allowed to begin using the product.

• Normal examination is not a ground for depriving consumers of the right of withdrawal that the Act guarantees them. For example, a company can not designate a product with respect to which it will not grant a right of withdrawal if the package containing it has been opened. Thus, for instance, undergarments can not be designated as “hygiene products”, which can not be returned if the consumer has opened the package containing them. It is possible to try on undergarments in shops, where customers are also instructed as to how this can be done hygienically. Examples of genuine hygiene products include a cosmetics jar or a contact lens pack, the sterile part of which the consumer can not open without losing the right to withdraw from the contract.  If a sealed computer programme – with respect to which the right of withdrawal need not be given once it has been opened – is delivered in the same package as a computer, the company can not specify in its terms of contract that neither can the computer be returned if the package has been opened. (Chapter 6, Section 23)

Returning goods must be easy and cost-free

A company can not require a consumer to pay the normal postage charges when a deal is cancelled or make the process of returning goods complicated through the company’s own procedures. 

• The consumer can make notification of withdrawal from a contract either orally or in writing. Returning a product or failing to collect a package is also regarded as withdrawal from a contract. In general, no demands other than these may be made with respect to the form a notification of withdrawal from a contract takes. Therefore, for example, the requirement that the consumer must contact a company’s customer service and obtain a return number from it is not acceptable. Nor may the customer be required to state the reason for returning an article. The wish that the customer do so may be expressed, because this can be of benefit in planning products and purchasing. (Chapter 6, Section 15)
• The company pays the normal charges for returning an article. If a product can be returned by post in the usual way, the company is liable for the costs thus incurred. Only in cases when returning an article requires special transport, for example because of its size or weight, can the consumer be made liable for the transport costs. This matter must be specified in the terms of contract. (Chapter 6, Section 17)