In a judgment (Case C-565/22) handed down on Thursday, 5 October, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the right to withdraw from a subscription that was made via distance contract and that was initially free of charge and automatically renewed once [the free trial] expired is guaranteed only once, unless the consumer was not sufficiently informed of the total cost of the subscription.
In Austria, a consumer protection association considered that a person who has taken out a subscription to an online learning platform that is free for the first 30 days has a right of withdrawal not only with respect to the free trial of this subscription but also when the subscription is converted into a paid subscription and when it is renewed.
Having been referred a question for a preliminary ruling by the Austrian Supreme Court, the Court of Justice has interpreted Directive 2011/83 on consumer rights (which has been amended by Directive 2019/2161, which is not yet applicable).
It ruled that the consumer’s right to withdraw from a subscription that includes an initial free period and that, unless terminated, is automatically renewed once it has expired is, in principle, guaranteed only once. Nevertheless, if—when taking out the subscription—the consumer was not informed in a clear, comprehensible, and explicit manner that the subscription would become a paid subscription after the initial free period, [the consumer] will have a new right of withdrawal after that period.
See the Court of Justice’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/8x5 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)