Is a telephone number mandatory in the revocation notice?

If online merchants use the standard revocation notice, must they also list a telephone number for consumers to contact them in this notice? According to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EuGH), whether the provision of a telephone number in the revocation notice is mandatory depends on the circumstances.

An online merchant was warned by a competitor and requested to make a binding declaration of cessation subject to a penalty clause. The subject matter of the warning was a revocation notice which, in the opinion of the competitor, did not meet the statutory requirements.

Specifically, the merchant was accused of failing to include his telephone number in the revocation notice. The defendant online merchant had relied on the standard revocation notice. However, he had not provided his telephone number, even though a telephone line was available and the telephone number was displayed on the website (in the imprint as well as in the lower area of the homepage).

The legal dispute was initially conducted at the Regional Court (LG) Arnsberg and at the appellate stage at the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Hamm. Both instances regarded it as an unfair competition infringement if the telephone number of the online merchant was not provided in the supplied standard revocation form.

Finally, the merchant objected to this assessment by filing a cassation appeal with the Federal Court of Justice (BGH).

BGH refers to EuGH: Telephone number in the revocation notice?

The BGH (Federal Court of Justice) referred the following core question of the dispute to the EuGH (Court of Justice of the European Union) for decision:Urt. v. 14.05.2020, Az. C‑266/19 for an answer:

Is a telephone number within the meaning of the guidance notes for the standard revocation notice (…) 'available' when the trader uses the telephone line for business purposes but not for concluding distance contracts and therefore does not hold it available for winding up distance contracts in the form of receiving revocation notices?

In the guidance notes which the trader must follow when transmitting the standard revocation notice to the consumer, the following instruction is attached:

Please provide your name, your address and, where available, your telephone number, fax number and email address.

The question arose as to when a telephone number of an online merchant should be regarded as 'available' – and in that case, provided that the standard revocation notice is used, must be stated.

The EuGH referred to its earlier case law: A trader who concludes a contract with a consumer via a website and does not use a telephone for this purpose, although he has a telephone line available for the design of other aspects of his business activities, is in principle not obliged to communicate the number of this line to the consumer within the framework of the standard revocation notice.

However, something different applies if the online merchant places his telephone number on his website in such a way that an average consumer would be led to believe that the trader uses this number for his contacts with consumers. This is, inter alia, the case if the telephone number is provided on the website under a section marked 'Contact'. This telephone number should therefore also be regarded as 'available' within the meaning of the above provision and must therefore be included in the notice.

Conclusion

If merchants offer a contact option via telephone in their online shop, for example under 'Contact', this telephone number must also be provided in the revocation notice.