CJEU Judgment: The order button or a similar function must clearly indicate that the consumer is subject to a payment obligation by clicking on it

This applies even where the obligation to pay is also dependent on the satisfaction of a subsequent condition.

In Germany, the tenant of an apartment – the monthly rent of which was higher than the maximum ceiling permitted under national law – asked a debt recovery undertaking to request his landlords to repay rent
overpayments. He placed that order through that service provider’s website. Before clicking on the order button, he ticked a box to accept the general terms and conditions. According to those terms and conditions, tenants must pay the service provider a third of the annual rent saved where that provider’s attempts to assert their rights were
successful.
In the ensuing dispute between the service provider and the landlords, the latter argue that the tenant did not give the service provider proper authorisation to act on his behalf. Indeed, the order button was not labelled with the words “order with obligation to pay” (or a corresponding formulation), as required by the directive on consumer rights. In that context, the question arose as to whether that requirement applies also where the tenant’s obligation to pay does not arise solely from the order, but in addition requires the successful enforcement of his orher rights. The German court seised of the dispute referred a question to the Court of Justice in that regard.
The Court holds that the trader must inform, in accordance with the requirements of the Directive, the consumerbefore he or she places the order through the internet that he or she, by that order, assumes an obligationto pay. That obligation on the part of the trader applies irrespective of whether the consumer’s obligation topay is unconditional or whether the consumer is required to pay the trader only after a subsequentcondition has been satisfied.
If the trader has not complied with his obligation to provide information, the consumer is not bound by the order. However, there is nothing to prevent the consumer from confirming his or her order.

Sentencia TJUE: los trabajadores transfronterizos deben disfrutar de las mismas ventajas sociales que los trabajadores residentes

More information: Court of Justice of the European Union