Lithuanian shop in Polish - Europejskie Centrum Konsumenckie

The consumer filled complaint to ECC Poland and notified about that fact the e-shop. Then the trader „agreed exceptionally” to give consent for withdraw from the contract. However, the ECC has, assessed the content of the shop rules of procedure as infringing the interests of consumers, since the entrepreneur himself chooses the law applicable to the contracts (Lithuanian) without agreement of customers, and even if the common choice would point the Lithuanian regulations, it can not deprive consumers of the protection granted by the law of their own country. In this case, the client from Poland should be able to withdraw from the contract within 14 days, in accordance with Polish law.

Consequently, the European Consumer Center in Poland has informed about the use of unfair market practice the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC-Net) in Poland – the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). As a result, Lithuanian counterpart of UOKiK – Valstybine Vartotoju Teisiu Apsaugos Tarnyba (VVTAT) obliged e-shop to change practices. The entrepreneur in the following days has made the appropriate modifications in his regulations.

The Polish consumer after the purchase of fabrics in the online store after some days decided to return them. The owner of the store, however, did not agree to withdraw from the contract, justifying that its decision is in line with Lithuanian law. It turned out that although the shop was actually run all in Polish, used the Polish internet domain, the entrepreneur was registered in Lithuania. He stated in his rules of procedure that according to the law of the Republic of Lithuania the fabric belonges to a group of non-returnable goods.