Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: Administrative case 5799/2013
    • Member State: Bulgaria
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Supreme court decision
    • Decision date: 11/12/2013
    • Court: Supreme Administrative Court
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: Bulgarian Telecommunication Company AD
    • Defendant: Bulgarian Consumer Protection Commission
    • Keywords: information obligation, right of withdrawal, written confirmation
  • Directive Articles
    Consumer Rights Directive, Chapter 3, Article 10
  • Headnote
    The period of fourteen days to withdraw from the conclusion of the distance contract for services implies not only a right for the consumer, but also an obligation for the trader. In order for the consumer to exercise his right within the statutory deadline, the trader is the one who must deliver the terms of the contract on paper or on another durable medium in such a period as not to deprive the consumer of his right. No one can derive rights from their own misconduct.
  • Facts
    A consumer concluded with the plaintiff a distance contract by telephone for the provision of telecommunication services. During the telephone call the plaintiff promised to the defendant that the detailed terms and conditions of the agreement will be sent to him in writing within 5 days and then he will have a time period of 7 working days to exercise the right of withdrawal. However, the written confirmation about the conclusion of the contract was sent to the consumer about one month after the telephone conversation. This written confirmation contained, inter alia, explicit information that the consumer is entitled to exercise the right of withdrawal within 7 days as of the receipt of the confirmation but not later than 14 days as of the date the offer was accepted by him over the telephone. Under these circumstances, by the time the consumer received the written confirmation about the concluded distant contract, the time period for exercising the rights of withdrawal had already expired.

    In view of the above on 24 July 2012 the Consumer Protection Commission issued an order establishing that the plaintiff used unfair commercial practice since due to the delayed delivery of the confirmation of the contract on paper and the respective information on the right of withdrawal, the consumer was deprived of the possibility to exercise this right. The plaintiff appealed this order before Sofia Administrative Court but the court rejected the appeal as ungrounded. As a final resort, the plaintiff appealed the first instance court’s judgment before the Supreme Administrative Court.
  • Legal issue
    The relevant question in this case is whether the trader can take advantage of the expiry of the withdrawal period provided that the consumer was informed in writing about the right of withdrawal about one month after the date the distant contract was considered concluded.

    The court took into consideration the fact that in cases of distant contracts for services the applicable provision of the Consumer Protection Act is not very clear regarding the initial date as of which the withdrawal period starts running. However, this question should be resolved in light of the general purpose of the Consumer Protection Act which is to protect the right of consumers, accordingly any ambiguities in the law should be interpreted in favor of consumers. In this particular case the court found that the expiry of the withdrawal period was due to the unreasonable delay of the plaintiff to deliver on paper information on the right of withdrawal which was contrary to the fair commercial practices.


    With this regard the court ruled that the statutory period of fourteen days to withdraw from the conclusion of the distance contract for services implies not only a right for the consumer, but also an obligation for the trader. In order for the consumer to exercise his right within the statutory deadline, the trader is the one who must deliver the terms of the contract on paper or on another durable medium in such a period as not to deprive the consumer of his right. Otherwise the trader would be permitted to derive rights from their own misconduct.

    This appealed order of the Consumer Protection Commission was issued on 24 July 2012 when Directive 2011/83/EU (‘the Directive’) was in force but not yet implemented in the Bulgarian law. At that time the applicable national provisions were similar, though not identical to the provisions of the Directive. Nevertheless, in its judgment the court emphasized that the national law effective at that time should be interpreted in light of the legal framework of the Directive, and in particular in light of the enhanced consumer protection under Article 10 of the Directive which provides for an extension of the withdrawal period where the trader has not provided the consumer with the information on the right of withdrawal.
  • Decision

    In cases of distant contracts can the unreasonable delay on part of the trader to provide information on paper about the right of withdrawal be considered unfair commercial practice?

    URL: http://www.sac.government.bg/court22.nsf/d038edcf49190344c2256b7600367606/69b42f0c3ef9bc4cc2257c3700452356?OpenDocument

    Full text: Full text

  • Related Cases

    No results available

  • Legal Literature

    No results available

  • Result
    The court upheld the first instance court’s judgment that rejected the plaintiff’s appeal.