Orgalime comments on the proposal for a Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sales of goods

Published: 20 February 2018

Policies & Issues: Legal

In 2015, the European Commission proposed a Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the online and other distance sales of goods. With the European Parliament and the Council both in favour of an extension of the scope of the Online Sales of Goods Proposal from online to offline sales, the Commission extended the scope to all sale channels in October 2017.

Orgalime believes that with the six EU consumer rights Directives, European consumers are adequately protected now and – as the Fitness Check showed – in the future. Therefore, we are sceptical about the motives behind the proposal for a new Directive and question the need to regulate any further. We would hope that the principles of better regulation should continue to apply. If however, new legislation is to be introduced, we are convinced that the applicability of the proposed Directive for the sale of goods should be strictly limited to business-to-consumer relations.

In particular, if such legislation is to be introduced:

• There should be no fragmentation into different sale channels

• The hierarchy of consumers’ remedies and the duty to notify non-conformity should be maintained

• The guarantee period and the period of the reversal of the burden of proof should not be extended

• Full harmonisation for business-to-consumer contracts, at a reasonable level, should be followed 

You can download the full position paper here

Authors

Selandari
Silvia Selandari
Senior Adviser - Trade and Legal

Related Position Papers

Legal: Join Statement for Product Liability Directive (PLD) trilogues [20 October 2023]

Green Transition: Joint Business statement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) [30 May 2023]

Legal: Joint Industry Statement on the Product Liability Directive [16 May 2023]

Legal: Orgalim comments on the Legislative Proposal for a Directive on AI liability [7 March 2023]

Legal: Orgalim comments on the Legislative Proposal for a Directive on liability for defective products [7 March 2023]

Green Transition: Joint Business Statement on the due diligence proposal (CS3D) [19 January 2023]

Legal: European business community calls for the rapid ratification and entry into operation of the Unitary Patent System [13 October 2021]

Legal: Orgalim comments on public consultation on the Product Liability Directive [2 August 2021]

Legal: Orgalim contribution to the European Commission IPCEI Consultation [23 April 2021]