NEW Online Selling Regulations (EU) From Friday

Well, the stated aim may be to help consumers, but as always with government, the actual agenda may be something else. See the following post that spells out the changes, instead of demanding an opt-in to get the info:

Consumer Contract Regulations - Publications - News & Knowledge - Reed Smith

Didn't want to sign up for the paper, so found another link here.
Seems like if you have a buy button then the wording needs to be changed (section f), and for digital content, there are more rules to come.

edit: posted same time as melprise, same link!

Thanks for the share. I went through it. It is stated that “digital content must satisfy a minimum standard similar to physical goods – it must be of satisfactory quality, fit for its purpose and meet its description.”

Who will verify the quality and decide if it is fit for its purpose? It is not going to be an easy task.

They trying to put regulations to something they do not understand. Then they wonder why the unemployment rate is so high in Europe.

Reluctant to download and trawl through the white paper.

Found a bullet point version of some of the main changes here. The law covers a number of areas such as:

• Customers must inform you of the fact that they intend to use their right to cancel within 14 days.
• Different types of goods may have different cancellation policies e.g. the cancellation process for goods sent by parcel service will be different from those used for downloadable products.
• For a number of product groups, a right to cancel is no longer granted for the consumer e.g. particular wines.
• In future, sellers will be able to pass the return costs arising as a result of cancellation onto the consumer, no matter what the price of the product.
• In the event of a cancellation, delivery costs will need to be refunded. However in the instance where a customer expressly chooses to use an express delivery this rule does not apply. You will only need to refund the delivery cost up to the amount of the standard delivery costs offered by your shop.

Not quite correct Sarah.
The purchaser has 14 days (previously 7 days) to decide to cancel a contract or return purchased goods and another 14 days to return the goods. The seller then has to refund within 14 days from knowing this, whether they have received the returned goods or not. The refund must include the original delivery standard charge but not necessarily the return costs if this was stated prior to purchase.

The directive bans all hidden fees and charges, with sellers obliged to give all price information upfront. Plus there is be a ban on traders pre-ticking boxes for additional purchases. Customers cannot be charged for any item that was selected for them as part of that purchasing process, rather than the purchaser actively choosing to add it to their basket.

Information on the compatibility of digital content with hardware and other software also has to be provided. There are also specific provisions for digital content.

The seller must not supply digital content, such as music or software downloads, within the 14 day cancellation period, unless the consumer has given their express consent to this happening.

It's sort of a minefield as each European Union country also has their own regulations as part of the directive.