ABSTRACT
In Germany, one fourth of all goods bought online are returned to the retailer; for clothing, the figure is up to 75%. Whether the legislator had numbers like these in mind when he introduced the right of withdrawal almost 30 years ago seems doubtful. Its legal basis, the Consumer Rights Directive and its predecessor, the Distance Contracts Directive, were evaluated several times at the European level. Although such impact assessments, by now, are recognized as part of a modern legislative process, they are rarely carried out in a convincing manner in practice. This is unfortunate, as the lack of such analyses makes it hard to determine whether a regulation will achieve the intended objectives. Thus, impact assessments will hopefully become more influential in the future.
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Thomas MJ Möllers and Julian Glas, Paying for Returns in Distance Contracts: Rethinking Consumer Protection Law, European Review of Private Law, volume 33, issue 5/6 pp 1005-1038 (2025).
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