Doorstep cancellation law
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Doorstep Selling and Similar Business Revocation Act |
| Short title: | Doorstep cancellation law (not official) |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | civil right |
| References : | 402-30 a. F. |
| Original version from: | January 16, 1986 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 122 ) |
| Entry into force on: | May 1, 1986 |
| New announcement from: | June 29, 2000 ( BGBl. I p. 955 ) |
| Last change by: |
Art. 6 para. 2 G of June 27, 2000 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 897, 906 ) |
| Effective date of the last change: |
June 30, 2000 (Art. 12 G of June 27, 2000) |
| Expiry: | January 1, 2002 (Art. 6 No. 5 G of November 26, 2001, Federal Law Gazette I p. 3138, 3187 ) |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The German Doorstep Selling Act ( HWiG ) was enacted as a law on the revocation of doorstep selling and similar businesses in the mid-1980s.
The purpose of the HWiG was to protect consumer interests from the economic and social dangers of direct marketing under private law, with the legislative initiatives dating back more than ten years. After a number of legislative initiatives extending over many legislative periods, the German Bundestag finally passed the law, which had been blocked for years, in its 174th session on November 14, 1985 in the second and third reading, according to press reports "in front of almost empty seats". The HWiG came into force after publication on January 16, 1986 in accordance with Section 9 (1) HWiG entered into force on May 1, 1986.
The law should better protect consumers from the consequences of ill-considered contracts that came about as a result of a representative's visit to their home or workplace or a surprising response at leisure events or on the street. In such cases, consumers were entitled to a right of withdrawal , which they had to exercise within one week after receiving written instructions; If the instruction by the entrepreneur was not given , the right of withdrawal only expired one month after both parties had fully provided the service. In contrast to the current regulation, the law provided for the pending invalidity of the contract until the expiry of the one-week cancellation period. The leisure events that the legislature particularly thought of were the coffee trips , which were very popular at the time .
The possibility of revocation was excluded if the representative's visit to the home or workplace was made on the customer's previous order, or if the service was provided and paid for immediately upon conclusion of the negotiations and the remuneration did not exceed eighty German marks. Likewise, there was no right of revocation if the declaration of intent was notarized by a notary, as well as when concluding insurance contracts.
- § 1 HWiG (right of withdrawal), as amended on January 16, 1986
(1) A declaration of intent aimed at concluding a contract for a paid service, to which the declaring party (customer)
- 1. through oral negotiations at his workplace or in the area of a private home,
- 2. on the occasion of a leisure event organized by the other contracting party or by a third party, at least also in their interest, or
- 3. following a surprising response in means of transport or in the area of publicly accessible traffic routes
has been determined only becomes effective if the customer does not revoke it in writing within a period of one week.
(2) There is no right of revocation if
- 1. in the case of paragraph 1 no. 1, the oral negotiations on which the conclusion of the contract is based were conducted based on the customer's previous order or
- 2. the service is provided and paid for immediately upon conclusion of the negotiations and the remuneration does not exceed eighty Deutsche Mark or
- 3. the declaration of intent has been certified by a notary.
On October 1, 2000, with the introduction of the Distance Selling Act , the withdrawal period was extended to two weeks. From then on, door-to-door sales contracts were pending until the withdrawal period had expired.
The HWiG was finally repealed by Article 6, No. 5 of the Law for the Modernization of the Law of Obligations of November 26, 2001 with effect from January 1, 2002 and essentially replaced by the newly introduced regulations in § 312 and § 312a BGB.
literature
- Gilles, Peter: The law on the revocation of door-to-door sales and similar transactions - comments on the latest consumer protection law in civil law, taking into account its overall legal and political context . In: New legal weekly . 1986 issue 18, p. 1131 ff.
- Seiler, Wolfgang: Consumer protection on electronic markets - investigation of possibilities and limits of a regulatory paradigm shift in internet- related consumer private law ( Jus Privatum 108). 1st edition. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 978-3-16-148873-3
Individual evidence
- ↑ Seiler: Consumer protection in electronic markets . 2006, p. 40 ff .
- ↑ Gilles: The Law on Revocation of Doorstep Selling and Similar Businesses . NJW 1986, p. 1131
- ↑ BGBl I 1986, p. 122
- ↑ BGBl I 2000, p. 897, 906 (Article 6, Paragraph 2 of the Act on Distance Selling Contracts and Other Questions of Consumer Law and on the Conversion of Regulations to the Euro from June 27, 2000)
- ↑ Bl. I 2001, pp. 3138, 3187
- ↑ BGBl I 2001, pp. 3138, 3148 f. (Article 1 No. 13 of the Act on the Modernization of the Law of Obligations of November 26, 2001)
- ↑ General note: Article status is November 25th, 2012. After this date, links to legal texts can lead to content not yet taken into account in the article, since the links always lead to the current legal versions at www.juris.de.
