The legal regulation of so-called consumer contracts in the Civil Code also contains certain interesting provisions regarding the required functionality of the web interface of an internet shop and regarding the manner of communication with customers when ordering goods or services. These provisions thus apply both to the area of sale of goods and to the area of provision of services via the internet, but only in cases where the other party is a consumer.

Section 53a(2) of the Civil Code provides that “before submitting an order, when using electronic means, the consumer must be enabled to check and change the input data contained therein which he has inserted into the order; this does not apply to dealings conducted exclusively by exchange of electronic mail or similar individual communication.” Although this provision is not entirely felicitously worded, it concerns the establishment of an obligation which probably every internet shop fulfils – the possibility for the customer to edit the “shopping basket” before sending its contents as an order to the trader via the web interface. In this connection, it may be recommended that when the customer submits his order, the text of the trader’s terms and conditions should be displayed to him, and not merely a hypertext link to these terms and conditions, but the entire text.

From Section 53(5) of the Civil Code it follows that “where the consumer submits an order by means of some means of distance communication, the supplier is obliged to confirm its receipt without delay by means of some means of distance communication; this does not apply to the conclusion of a contract exclusively by exchange of electronic mail or similar individual communication. The order and confirmation of its receipt are deemed to have been delivered if the parties for whom they were intended can acquaint themselves with them.” An automatic reply to a customer’s order may have certain importance also for practice, particularly in cases where the trader does not have the ordered goods currently available. By delivery of the “approval” of the order back to the customer (so-called acceptance), the contract is concluded. From the concluded contract, an obligation to deliver the goods or provide the service arises for the trader and, on the other hand, an obligation to pay the price of the goods and service arises for the customer. As is generally known, unlike the consumer, the trader does not have the right to withdraw from this contract. For these reasons, it may be more suitable to choose such a solution where acceptance is not automatically sent by the trader, but merely a confirmation of receipt of the order (within the meaning of the above-mentioned provision). This fact should be apparent from the automatically distributed message.

Connected with the completion of the contractual process when ordering goods or services via the internet is also the obligation contained in Section 53a(3) of the Civil Code – “the contract and general terms and conditions must be provided to the consumer in a form which enables archiving and reproduction.” Such a form is logically also electronic form, and it is thus possible to provide the consumer with this documentation in electronic form.

The private law sanction for failure to observe the above-mentioned provisions of Sections 53a(2) and (3) of the Civil Code is in particular the extension of the period for the possibility of withdrawal from the contract by the consumer from 14 days to 3 months from acceptance of performance.

This text was translated from Czech to English using an AI translator.