Consumer organisation BEUC's topic of this month is...the proposal for a Common European Sales Law (CESL). On its website, representatives of various institutions and organisations give their opinions on the proposed optional instrument. While some praise the instrument for its potential to enhance consumer protection, others support BEUC's suggestion to develop other types of regulation for cross-border consumer contracts in the EU. Members of the EP even announce the preparation of an alternative approach, which will take the Consumer Rights Directive as its basis. To be continued...
Another topic of this month that may interest consumers is/was (depending on national preferences) the European football championship. To answer a question to which my brother drew my attention, I think under some circumstances it is still possible to send back orange t-shirts that were bought at a distance. Although it will be quite difficult to maintain that the product did not meet consumer expectations (unfortunately, the law does not always correspond to our feelings), football fans who received their shirts around the starting date of the tournament should be just in time to make use of their right of withdrawal from the sales contract under the Distance Selling Directive (without penalty, which in Dutch cases usually is something to be grateful for).
