What the changes to the Consumer Rights Directive mean for shoppers

Over the past three years we have been keeping a close eye on European Union (EU) proposals to amend laws that protect shoppers under the Consumer Rights Directive (CRD).

The changes are expected to take legal effect by the end of the year, and will affect the UK Distance Selling Regulations (DSRs).

The CRD has had a chequered past. Introduced in 2008, it was designed to standardise buyer-protection laws across the EU and boost cross-border trading.

This strengthened laws in member states that had little or no protection, but came at the expense of existing, stronger laws in countries such as the UK and Finland.

For the UK this draft of the CRD effectively ‘broke’ the Sale of Goods Act and Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations and the directive was shelved at the end of 2009. It has now been resurrected with major changes that have made it more acceptable to Parliament.

The changes to the DSRs are on the whole minor but beneficial to people in the UK. An interesting development regards digital goods, such as music downloads, the streaming of video and the provision of online gaming services.

For the first time, the EU has addressed the problem that digital downloads are not subject to customer-protection law because they are not ‘tangible’ goods.

Under the CRD, suppliers must provide the customer with clearer information before they buy a digital download, particularly regarding its compatibility with hardware and software.

Any digital-rights management measures must also be disclosed. And for the first time customers will have the right to withdraw from a digital-content purchase. The tricky part is that this right lasts only up to the moment the downloading process begins. It is not clear whether stopping a download can be construed as cancellation of the contract.

The CRD also brings in minor changes to the right to reject unwanted goods. The way the DSRs currently stand, you have the right to reject goods or services ordered online, or by post and phone, on the grounds that you no longer want them. This right remains the same but clarification and additional rights have been added.

Under the DSRs, people have seven working days, starting the day after receipt of the goods or signing a contract for a service, in which to reject goods or cancel a contract. The new rules extend this to 14 days.

Despite the fact that bank holidays and weekends will no longer be taken into account, this still gives UK citizens a further two days in which to change their minds about purchases.