Compared with the current Law, in this draft, in section III (on consumer rights in distance selling), a new article 17 “Consumer rights during the purchase of products through electronic commerce” has appeared.
This article introduces several new rules for online stores, as well as price aggregators and marketplaces.
The online store must provide the buyer with access to the contract, which must be located on the store's website in an accessible place. This is necessary so that the buyer can read the terms of the contract before placing an order for the purchase of goods.
Online trading platforms must also publish on their sites information about themselves that is sufficient for identification. In the case of legal entities, these are the name of the legal entity or its subdivision, its address, the USREOU (Uniform State Registry of Enterprises and Organizations of Ukraine) code, the availability of permits or licenses (if required by law, for example, for the sale of alcohol). In the case of individual entrepreneurs, these are surname, name of an individual entrepreneur, address, availability of permits or licenses (if required by the law).
Companies trading on the Internet will also be asked to voluntarily submit declarations of intent to conduct e-commerce. These declarations, in particular, must contain information sufficient to identify such a company. The register of such declarations will be open, it will be kept by the supervisory authority in the field of consumer protection (now it is the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection).
Also in the new draft law, there are rules for goods with digital content. Judging by the definitions from the bill, this applies, among other things, to the sale of software. But it is not very clear whether this will apply to cases of selling devices with preinstalled software.
When selling a product with digital content, a company must provide customers with data on the availability and availability of updates for it, if this is necessary for the quality and safety of such a product.
If the user did not install the update provided by the seller company, and this led to product defects, the seller is not responsible for this. But only if he told the buyer about the consequences of refusing to update, as well as if the incorrect installation of the update was not associated with shortcomings in the instructions.
Why it is important: This project was prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers, which means it will fall under consideration. The Consumer Protection Law is one of the main acts regulating trade, including online trade, in Ukraine.
