‘Webshops are not obliged to be reachable by telephone for consumers’

Webshops cannot be obliged to disclose a telephone number to the consumer. However, customers must be able to communicate quickly and efficiently with the web store. Information about these contact options must also be easy to find.

This is what Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella writes in his opinion to the Court of Justice of the European Union on the case between the German Consumer Association and the European branch of Amazon. The union was of the opinion that Amazon violated German and European law by not clearly placing a telephone or fax number on the site. A fax number was missing from the site and additional steps had to be taken to find out the phone number. Amazon does have an automatic callback system and chat service, but according to the German Consumer Association, that was not enough.

In order to enforce this clear indication of the fax and telephone number, the consumer association went to the German court. He sent the questions back to the European Court. In his advice, Pitruzzella writes that Amazon cannot be obliged to list a telephone and fax number. According to the European Consumer Rights Directive, which supersedes the law of the Member States, this is not necessary. According to the Advocate General, the law offers the highest possible level of consumer protection, without a company being allowed to be organizationally limited as a result.

In that context, consumer interests are not protected by requiring a specific contact method, Pitruzzella argues. Those interests are actually protected if consumers can use the most effective contact methods appropriate to the environment in which the trade is conducted. The Advocate General says that enforcing a certain way of communicating can put an unnecessary burden on the company, especially if it is a smaller company.

Specific communication methods are therefore irrelevant, according to the Italian. What is important is that the objectives in the directive are achieved. This means that quick and efficient contact must be possible between customer and retailer and that contact information must be clearly traceable. Entrepreneurs can therefore choose how they communicate with the customer, as long as they meet the conditions of the directive. However, entrepreneurs have a duty to make several communication methods available, so that consumers have freedom of choice.

The Advocate General’s opinion is not binding, but can be adopted by the EU Court.