Summary
Throughout the EU consumers have legal rights to cancel contracts for goods and services in situations where they may be subject to pressure selling or have purchased items at a distance. These rights are important because consumers should easily gain redress without the need to take expensive or lengthy court action. But consumer rights vary from Member State to Member State and many transactions which should have cancellation periods do not allow consumers time to reflect.
Evidence from Citizens Advice Bureaux and the UK European Consumer Centre (ECC) also shows that traders are not always giving consumers adequate cancellation rights. Gaps in legislation result in some consumers not being entitled to cancel, for example in solicited doorstep sales or credit agreements made where the consumer goes to the trader’s premises. The cost to consumers can be high. A MORI survey commissioned by Citizens Advice in September 2005 suggests that over three million people in Great Britain (GB) wanted to or tried unsuccessfully to cancel or return purchases in the last year, to the value of between £300 and £500 million.
The current review of EU consumer protection legislation gives an opportunity to reassess how cancellation rights are being delivered in all Member States and to provide for greater consistency of approach to legislation. Citizens Advice welcomes this review because it is a major opportunity both to get greater consistency and a level playing field in consumer rights across the EU and to improve consumer protection. Both aspirations are good for business as well as consumers. This report shows that there is a continuing need for clear cancellation rights to provide easy redress for consumers, for more rights in some areas, greater consistency in law and action to improve business compliance with consumer law.
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