The Act on Distance Contracts and Off-Premises Contracts

When is the Act on Distance Contracts and Off-Premises Contracts applicable?

• When you as a private person purchase something from a company at a distance, that is, without meeting with anyone from the company face to face. Distance purchases include purchases made via the Internet, from door-to-door salespersons and over the telephone.

• The statute applies to the purchase of both goods and services. It also includes digital goods and services.

When is the Act on Distance Contracts and Off-Premises Contracts not applicable?

• When purchasing on the premises of the business, for example in a retail shop.

• When purchasing something from another private individual.

• When companies buy things from each other (B2B).

Provisions in applicable legislation

Organised system and exclusively via a distance sale

For you to have the right of withdrawal, you must have entered into the contract exclusively at a distance and the company must have an organised system.

What does “exclusively at a distance” mean?

A contract entered into exclusively at a distance means prior to the contract being entered into you have not physically been to the company’s premises. An example of this is when you buy something online via the Internet. If you come in physical contact with someone from the company at any time, for example to discuss the terms of the purchase, you will not be considered as having entered into the contract via a distance sale.

What is an “organised system” in this context?

An organised system means that the company has made arrangements to be able to sell goods or services via a distance sale. For example, the company may have an online ordering system. It may also mean that the company invites its prospective customers to contact them by e-mail or telephone to enter into a contract.

If the company only occasionally enters into a contract by e-mail or telephone, this may not be regarded as an organised system for selling goods or services at a distance.

Telephone sales require a written agreement to be valid

For the contract to be valid, a company selling goods or services over the telephone must, by law, obtain your written acceptance and approval. The company must send a written confirmation of its offer, allowing you to confirm your acceptance of the offer in writing. A contract can be confirmed digitally “in writing” via SMS, e-mail, Bank ID, in addition to by the ordinary written paper contract.

Most contracts made over the telephone are not valid without a later written confirmation. There are exceptions, however, such as the sale of lottery tickets.

Read more about the legislation and rules relating to telemarketing

Shopping in a mall, market or fair

When sales are made in open spaces and in shopping malls, markets, fairs and similar venues, your right to rescind the purchase depends upon whether or not the place of sale is considered to be the company’s place of business. If it is the company’s usual place of business, it may be regarded as a place of business, in which case the law giving you the right of withdrawal does not apply. In addition, whether it seems natural to you as a customer to buy something at the place, or whether the transaction involved an element of surprise, must be taken into account.

If you were approached by a salesperson outside a shop, for example on the street, and then went into the shop and made a purchase, this still counts as an off-premises contract. In this situation, the purchase is covered by the statutory right of withdrawal.

Your right to information

Right of withdrawal

The right of withdrawal allows a consumer to change their mind about a purchase made without a need to provide a reason if the product or service was purchased online, off-premises or at a distance. This is your “cooling-off period,” which usually is for a period of 14 days. Before the purchase is made, the company must have informed you how to exercise your right of withdrawal if you change your mind.

A precondition for the cooling-off period to start is that the company has given you sufficient information about your right of withdrawal, i.e. your right to withdraw from the contract.

What is meant by sufficient information is information about:

• that there is a right to reconsider and withdraw from the purchase

• how long the cooling-off period, during which the right of withdrawal may be invoked

• what to do to withdraw from the purchase.

The company must also provide you with a form you can use to cancel the purchase, or alternatively inform you where you can obtain the form.

If the company has not informed you of your right of withdrawal, you have an extended cooling-off period of one year from the day after the end what would be the ordinary 14-day normal cooling-off period. In such a scenario, the maximum period for the right of withdrawal to apply is one year and 14 days.

Business enterprise or private person

Before entering into a contract on an online marketplace, the company providing the marketplace must provide information about whether the seller is a commercial enterprise or a private person.

When does the cooling-off period (right of withdrawal) begin?

The 14-day cooling-off period starts the day after you receive or pick up the item(s). If you have ordered a service, the cooling-off period starts the day after you signed the contract. For distance contracts for life insurance or private individual pension savings, you have a 30-day right of withdrawal.

Both weekdays and public holidays are included in the cooling-off period, however if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the cooling-off period is extended so that it also applies to the following weekday.

Under what circumstances does the right to withdraw not apply?

When you purchase something from a company and do so not at the company’s business premises (i.e. at a distance), for example with door-to-door selling, telemarketing, or online, for you to have the right to rescind and get a refund the price you paid must be more than SEK 400. If the purchase price was less, the general statutory right to withdrawal is not applicable. You also do not have a legal right of withdrawal when you purchase something when actually in the retail shop or other business premises.

Examples of goods and services that are exempt from the right of withdrawal include:

• travel

• hotel stays

• lotteries or other gambling activities

• products that have been specially made for you

• goods that can deteriorate quickly, such as food.

Further information about the right of withdrawal

You may have to pay return shipping costs and compensate for any loss of value

When withdraw from the purchase, you may need to pay return shipping costs if the items need to be sent back to the merchant. In such a situation, the merchant must have informed you about this.

You may also be obligated to pay compensation for any loss of value if the company thinks the goods have decreased in value after you received and examined them, for example if you purchased shoes that have been scuffed after you tried them on. Again, this assumes that the company has informed you in advance that you may need to compensate them for the loss in value. The company also needs to have provided you with clear and complete information about the right of withdrawal.

Form to exercise a right of withdrawal

The Swedish Consumer Agency’s website has a form you can use to notify the company that you are exercising your right of withdrawal. You are not required to use this form, but if you wish you can do so. Nor is there is a requirement for it to be signed, but it must state who is exercising their right of withdrawal from the contract/annul the purchase.

The right of withdrawal form on the Swedish Consumer Agency’s website (In Swedish)

Request the assistance of ARN if you can’t arrive at a mutually agreed solution with the company

If you and the company cannot reach an agreement, you can file a complaint to the public authority the National Board for Consumer Disputes (ARN).

ARN will assess your case and make a recommendation on how to resolve the dispute. Most companies follow ARN’s recommendations.

A normal processing time is approximately six months. 

What does it cost to file a complaint with ARN?

It costs SEK 150 to file a complaint with ARN. When you submit your complaint, you can request that the company compensates you for the cost if ARN makes a recommendation in your favor.

Requirements for ARN to consider your case

• The company has either rejected your claims or has not responded within a reasonable time.

• The amount you and the company are in dispute about is more then ARN's value limitations (different value thresholds apply for different fields). You cannot include the application fee to ARN.

• The company has rejected your requests in whole or in part, or it has failed to respond to you. 

Submit an application on ARN’s website

Would you like assistance in preparing your complaint?

The municipality’s consumer adviser may be able to assist you in submitting an application to ARN.

Your dispute with the company can also be taken to a district court by filing a lawsuit, but there will be costs involved in this. as you will need to pay a filing fee and may also have to pay legal fees and court costs.

If the company disregards the rules, submit a complaint to the Swedish Consumer Agency

If you think that a company is breaking the rules in the law, you can call attention to this by filing a complaint with the Swedish Consumer Agency. The Swedish Consumer Agency checks that companies comply with the rules in the law, and reports are an important input for the agency’s work. However, a report does not mean that your individual case will be assessed and decided.

File a complaint on the Konsumentverket/Swedish Consumer Agency’s website

Full text of the statute

Read the full text of the Swedish Act on Distance Contracts and Off-Premises Contracts on the website of the Swedish Parliament (In Swedish)