The new Consumers Act creates changes to online shopping

Improving the protection of shoppers in all distance transactions is one of the targets of the Bill for the Consumer and User Protection Law that the Council of Ministers approved at the end of October. Amendments are related to pricing, terms, withdrawal periods, phone contracts and telephone line rates, among other areas. The Law therefore strengthens the prior information given to consumers and lays down the requirement that the user always has access to the final price of a product before completing his/her online purchase.

This initiative aims to prevent hidden or additional costs, according to the text. Furthermore, if the business does not obtain the express consent of the consumer for payments on top of the agreed price, and these are received using default settings, the user shall be entitled to a refund for the payment. Another new feature included in the text refers to the withdrawal periods for distance contracts that change from the current period of 7 business days to 14 calendar days. If the consumer has not received the necessary information, the term is automatically extended to 12 months. The regulation also includes a standardised EU withdrawal form that facilitates the exercise of this right, and that must be supplied along with the pre-contractual information.

With regard to hiring goods and services via telephone, the user shall only be bound to a company after signing the contract offer or sending his/her written agreement on paper, by fax, email or text message.

Concerning rates, the bill governs situations where a business launches a telephone line to communicate with its clients in relation to the contract, ensuring that use of the line cannot involve a cost in excess of the basic rate.

The Bill also grants new rights to consumers relating to the delivery form and time, and the risk of loss or deterioration of the asset purchased, among other areas. This regulation is required, given the growth of e-commerce and distance contracts in Spain. In fact, between January and March 2013, Spanish e-commerce set a new record turnover of €2,822.600,000, according to the 1^st Quarter e-Commerce Report for 2013, published by the Commission for the Telecommunications Market (CMT). Some entities have already stated that these changes are not enough. The Consumer and User Organisation (OCU) believes that “the improvements to the legislation are significant but there’s still a lot to improve. There are areas such as compliance checks, sanctions or warranties that are not addressed in this Bill.”

The organisation suggests some areas that can be improved, such as the legislation needing to also include a specific regulation concerning the form for sending bills to consumers. The express consent of the consumer would be required in order to send bills only in digital form. The organisation adds that if a business is sanctioned for failure to comply with its obligations towards a consumer, more information should be provided in relation to the amount of the sanction in terms of compensation. Furthermore, in the event of insolvency of the business, the consumer should be granted preferential billing rights. Warranties continue to be the main sticking point with the Law and, according to the OCU, until this issue is addressed, “we cannot say that the Law protects and defends consumers.”

The Spanish Association of Digital Economy (adigital) additionally states that the Bill fails to comply with the European Directive on Consumer Rights. This regulation prohibits Member States from adding stricter or more lenient provisions to those set forth in EU legislation, with the aim of ensuring equality of treatment both for Spanish online stores and for those in the rest of Europe. Therefore, according to adigital, the bill fails to comply with the Directive in areas such as withdrawal period rights, information about product pricing and card payments. The Association suggests that, among other amendments, technical improvements that expand the means through which consumers can confirm phone contracts could be introduced, along with social networks and other forms of instant communication, as long as this support is of a lasting nature.