The Consumer Ombudsman has issued guidelines for online shops and companies offering payment solutions for online shops. The guidelines concern consumers’ legal demands for the payment of online shopping by various means, giving instructions on the implementation of payment practices in order to make payments both fluent and compliant with the law. The guidelines can be applied to all online shops, regardless of what device the consumer is using to access the shop.
The Consumer Ombudsman’s guidelines aim to provide businesses with instructions, practical advice and information regarding the application of the provisions. The guidelines are based on provisions, legal praxis, the decisions of various supervisory authorities and matters that have been detected during market control. The ‘Payment of online shopping’ guideline also contains practical suggestions for courses of action.
The guidelines explain, for example, how companies can take account of payment method regulations to ensure that consumers receive the relevant information at the right time. The guidelines also discuss the conclusion of credit agreements and help resolve problem situations related to payments.
The draft was available in the autumn of 2016 for comments on the FCCA website. In addition, key stakeholders were separately requested to provide feedback on the draft. These comments were used when drawing up the guidelines.
Further information:
Legal Adviser Paula Hannula, tel. +358 (0)29 505 3115, firstname.lastname@kkv.fi