Federal Court of Justice
BGH: cancellation policy allowed even without a telephone number
If consumers buy something online, the seller usually instructs you about your right of withdrawal. But does a telephone number have to be specified? The BGH says: No.
What information does the cancellation policy have to do with distance contracts? The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) took a close look at this in Karlsruhe. In any case, a telephone number is not absolutely necessary if a postal address and email address are already specified, the Supreme German Civil Court decided on the non-admission complaint of a consumer. According to the court, the eighth civilians have numerous similar symptoms. (Az. VIII ZR 143/24)
Distance sales are contracts in which there are no personal contact between buyer and seller, but rather means of communication such as catalogs, letters, emails or online shops. The cancellation period of 14 days only begins when the entrepreneur has informed the consumer according to the legal requirements.
The plaintiff in the procedure that the BGH now decided had bought a new car from the defendant dealer by way of distance sales. The dealer did not use the model cancellation policy, but some of it deviating with cancellation instructions. His postal address and email address were given in it, but no telephone number. Only about ten months after the vehicle was handed over, the buyer explained his revocation.
Contact by post, email and phone?
In his opinion, the cancellation period had never started because the cancellation policy due to the missing telephone number did not meet the legal requirements. In court, he complained to repay the purchase price for the handover of the vehicle. However, he was unsuccessful in the lower courts. The BGH now also rejected his complaint against the non -admission of the revision.
The chamber court rightly decided that the cancellation policy used was okay, said the Karlsruhe Senate. “For a quick and efficient contact of the consumer with the entrepreneur, it is undoubtedly not necessary for a telephone number of the entrepreneur to be given in the cancellation policy- beyond the postal and email address,” said the court. In any case, the telephone number on the entrepreneur’s website was easily available.
The assessment of the effectiveness of the cancellation policy is so obvious that no template is required to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg. The EU’s consumer rights directive obliges entrepreneurs to provide quick and efficient means of communication. The assessment of whether this is fulfilled is again the matter for the national court.
dpa
Source: Stern
