When placing an order online, the order button must clearly indicate that by clicking on it the consumer is assuming an obligation to pay, even if the obligation to pay is linked to the subsequent fulfilment of a condition, ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in a judgment handed down on Thursday 30 May (Case C-400/22).
In Germany, the tenant of a flat asked a debt collection company to recover rent overpayments made to his landlords. Before clicking on the button for the online order he placed with this company, he ticked a box accepting the terms and conditions according to which, in the event of the successful recovery of overpayments, the company will receive a fee equivalent to one third of the amount recovered.
In the dispute between the company and the tenant’s landlords, the latter argued that the tenant had not duly authorised the service provider insofar as the order button did not include the words ‘order with obligation to pay’ (or similar wording), as required by the Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83).
In its judgment, the Court rules that, in accordance with the requirements of the directive, the trader must inform the consumer before the order is placed on the internet that they are assuming an obligation to pay. This obligation applies regardless of whether the consumer’s obligation to pay is unconditional or whether the consumer is only obliged to pay once a condition has been fulfilled.
If the trader has not complied with their obligation to provide information, the consumer is not bound by the order, adds the CJEU. However, there is nothing to prevent the consumer from confirming the order, the European court ruled.
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/cgj (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)