Rechtsprechung

  • Rechtssachenbeschreibung
    • Nationale Kennung: 4 Ob 149/03w
    • Mitgliedstaat: Österreich
    • Gebräuchliche Bezeichnung:N/A
    • Art des Beschlusses: Sonstiges
    • Beschlussdatum: 08/07/2003
    • Gericht: Oberster Gerichtshof
    • Betreff:
    • Kläger:
    • Beklagter:
    • Schlagworte: Rechtsprechung Österreich Deutsch
  • Artikel der Richtlinie
    Distance Selling Directive, Article 4, 1. Distance Selling Directive, Article 4, 2. Distance Selling Directive, Article 4, 3.
  • Leitsatz
    1. Das Gespräch, bei dem ein Unternehmer einem Verbraucher unter Einsatz eines Automaten eine telefonische Gewinnabfragemöglichkeit anbietet, ist nicht „bloß einer möglichen Vertragsbeziehung vorgeschaltet“, sondern stellt ein Angebot zu einer Dienstleistung dar, das durch den Anruf unter der bekannt gegebenen Mehrwertnummer schlüssig angenommen wird.
  • Sachverhalt
    The defendant was a mail order firm and called consumers to inform them that they had won a prize. At the same time, the consumers were informed that they would be sent a letter. The call, in which a tape recorder was used, was made without the permission of the consumer. The person called was not informed of the defendant’s name, address or headquarters. Those people who were called were requested to claim their prize by dialling a premium-rate number – the (premium-rate) call charges were given. While no goods or services were offered during the phone calls, follow-up written correspondence did contain the relevant offers.
    The Austrian Consumers’ Association brought a class action for an injunction ordering the defendant to desist from concluding contracts with consumers by distance selling without first informing the consumers of the firm’s name and operating address. At the same time, the Association requested an injunction ordering that the defendant refrain from using automated messages as an interlocutor with consumers.
    The defendant applied for the case to be dismissed, citing the argument that consumers were merely made aware of the chance to call and win a prize during the calls and that no goods or services were offered. In follow-up written communication, consumers were informed of the relevant call charges as well as the opportunity to claim the prize by sending a postcard. Moreover, in all correspondence sent to consumers, there were details of the firm’s name, legal status, headquarters and registered company number. It was not necessary, according to the defendant, to provide an operating address.
    Both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal upheld the claim, holding that the defendant’s argument that an operating address was unnecessary, clearly contradicted § 5c para 1 line 1 KSchG. The aim of this provision was to ensure that, from the contract initiation stage onwards, the consumer could ask any follow-up questions or make any other enquiries. Since the Distance Selling Directive provides a broad definition of a ‘service’, then a request to call a number and claim a prize constitutes a contract as per § 5a para 1 KSchG where the consumer states his intent to accept the offer. Especially given that § 5c para 1 line 1 KSchG applies here, the supplier, in failing to give an operating address, has fallen short of his duties to provide information.
  • Rechtsfrage
  • Entscheidung

    The OGH concurred in essence with the rationale given by the lower courts. The Distance Selling Directive 97/7/EC has been transposed by §§ 5a to 5j KSchG, the aim of which is to safeguard the consumer against the particular risks of distance selling. Duties to provide information and the right of withdrawal are vital in ensuring that consumers are properly safeguarded. In accordance with § 5a para 1 KSchG, §§ 5c to 5j KSchG apply to contracts concluded exclusively with the use of one or more remote means of communication. This includes telephone conversations either with people or automated devices. § 5c KSchG covers the supplier’s duties to provide information, including his duty to inform the consumer of his name and operating address prior to stating his intent to enter into a contract. In the case of telephone calls, the caller is obliged to make clear and intelligible, at the very beginning of the conversation, his name and that of the company, as well as the purpose of the call.
    As detailed by the Court of Appeal, a request to call a number and claim a prize constitutes a contract as per § 5a para 1 KSchG where the consumer states his intent to accept the offer. This is because the service being offered by the defendant is not merely a case of the consumer “taking his chance to call and claim a prize”. In fact, the defendant firstly offers the consumer the opportunity to call a premium-rate number and claim his prize. The consumer then definitively accepts this offer by calling the premium-rate number. The fact that there is personal contact between supplier and consumer does not constitute grounds for not applying §§ 5c to 5j KSchG; rather, the contract is agreed using exclusively remote means of communication. Since the contract pertaining to the service offered by the defendant (calling to claim a prize) is entered into when the consumer calls the premium-rate number, then information received during this conversation constitutes information received after the contract has been concluded. Thus, the content of this conversation is immaterial in terms of evaluating whether the offer of the chance to call and claim a prize was made in line with the duties to provide information in § 5c KSchG. Only the initial call in which the defendant, via an automated message, offered the consumer the chance to call and claim a prize is relevant. However, as this message contained no details about the defendant’s operating address, there is an infringement of § 5c para 1 line 1 KSchG. Moreover, in the case of such calls, the consumer has not given prior consent to the use of automated messages in telephone conversations, which in turn is in breach of § 5c para 3. Thus, the OGH upheld the Court of Appeal’s verdict.

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