DEFINITION

When a business sells to consumers (B2C) by mail order, phone, fax, Internet or digital TV (at a distance as opposed to face-to-face) the seller must give the consumer a cooling-off period during which the consumer has an unconditional right to cancel the contract. This rule is laid down in Directive 97/7/EC Art.6. It is NOT APPLICABLE to auctions, vending automats and real estate sales. Furthermore, for perishable goods (e.g. food, but also newspapers), services for a fixed date (e.g. tourism industry: room reservation, train/air ticket etc., catering), for goods made to specifications, and unsealed CDs,DVDS, CD-ROMs, the cooling off period is not applicable.

IMPACT ON e-BUSINESS

Consumers enjoy special protection as the weaker part in a business contract. The cooling off period is meant to allow consumers to "change their mind" in case they did not give enough thought to the purchase, or that the good/service in question does not correspond to their expectations. The business is obliged to take back the good and pay back the price (not the mailing costs, though). The  Directive sets the cooling off period at a minimum of 7 days. The period shall start running on the day:
- the goods are received by the consumer
- the service contract is concluded (= offer made, accepted and confirmed)
AND all information necessary provided by the seller to the consumer (see Consumer Protection, Art. 4 and 5 of the Directive), whatever is later. If some of the required information is not provided, the cooling off period is extended to 3 months.
That means for a business:
1. It is important to know what information it needs to provide to consumers
2. It needs to be aware that transactions are never final unless a certain period of time expired.
BUT WHICH PERIOD OF TIME?
The Directive prescribes a minimum period but leaves the implementation to the discretion of the Member States. The results are by far not homogeneous:
AT     7 working days (excluding Saturdays)
BE    7 working days
CY    14 days
CZ    14 days
DK    14 days
EE    14 days
FI     14 days
FR    7 working days (but expression "jours francs" not clarified)
DE    2 weeks
GR    10 working days
HU    8 working days
IRL    7 working days
IT    10 working days
LV    14 days minimum
LT    7 working days
LUX    7 working days
MT    15 days
NL    7 working days
PL    10 days
PT    14 days
SK    7 working days
SL    15 days