The website is in English, but the prices are stated in Danish currency, and there’s a Danish contact address. So the Danish visitor feels safe and decides to buy a mobile phone from the website. But the mobile supplied turns out to be defective. The Danish customer returns the phone to the foreign vendor who takes four months to remedy the defect. But the mobile still doesn’t work properly and the vendor refuses to issue a refund.
This real-life case ended at the Danish Consumer Complaints Board, which now confirms that foreign online traders who advertise in Denmark are required to comply with Danish Law.
“The interesting aspect in this case is that the website itself is in English, but, in that the shop indicates in various ways that it wants Danish customers, the consumer is actually protected by Danish legislation,” says Peter Fogh Knudsen, Director of European Consumer Centre Denmark.
In this specific case, the Consumer Agency upheld the Danish consumer’s right to return the mobile to the Swedish vendor for a full refund, among other things because the vendor failed to remedy the defect within reasonable time (cf. The Danish Sale of Goods Act).
Check the language
If, however, the language on a foreign website is one not commonly spoken in Denmark – e.g. Italian or Portuguese – and the website is not otherwise aimed at the Danish market, then in most cases it will be subject to the rules of the vendor’s own country.
Peter Fogh Knudsen emphasises that all EU citizens who purchase goods over the Internet have a right of return and at least two years’ right to return faulty items, regardless of which EU country they make the purchase from.
All the same, it is just as well to be aware of the rules applicable to cross-border e-trade.
“For some consumers it matters a great deal to know that they are covered by Danish legislation, which means checking before making an online purchase. But on the whole no one should be put off shopping in other EU countries. The rules are by and large pretty similar,” says Peter Fogh Knudsen.
The recent decision by the Danish Consumer Complaints Board comprises all EU Member States, where the same rules apply: if a foreign online vendor has advertised in the country in which the consumer resides, then the consumer is protected by the rules of that country. (For transportation agreements such as travel by air, rail or bus, other rules apply.)
Three useful tips for Danes shopping online:
- Always pay by debit or credit card
- Use “Howard”, European Consumer Centre Denmark’s shopping assistant, to help you distinguish between trustworthy and untrustworthy websites, and give you helpful tips about online purchases generally
- Look for websites that are members of a national trustmark scheme