When a professional’s telephone number appears on their website in such a way as to suggest to an average consumer that the professional uses that telephone number to communicate with consumers, that telephone number must be regarded as “available” so that the consumer who uses it may exercise their right of withdrawal from a contract, says the EU Court of Justice.
By average consumer, the Court means a reasonably informed and attentive consumer.
This is the substance of a judgment it delivered on Thursday 14 May (Case C-266/19) on the interpretation of EU law in the context of a reference for a preliminary ruling by the German court (Bundesgerichtshof) on a dispute between the companies EIS and TO concerning the information to be included in a standardised model for withdrawal information.
The Court adds that, in such a case, a professional who provides a consumer who is to be bound by a distance or off-premises contract with information on how to exercise the right of withdrawal, using standardised information for that purpose, is required to mention the same telephone number to enable that consumer to communicate any decision taken to exercise that right. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)