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ARTICLE · 18 JUNE 1996

Online Shopping - Whose Laws Apply?

Andersen Legal
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United KingdomMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
In Europe, annual sales by direct mail are running at approximately ECU41 billion: the potential for online sales is therefore huge. However, although the business premise for online shopping is relatively simple, the legal framework is still unnecessarily complex.

Subject to which laws?
Most countries provide that, in relation to contracts with consumers, their existing consumer legislation will override any provisions in the seller's terms and conditions (including clauses which attempt to choose another legal system as the governing law). This means that a provider of an online shopping service which seeks to maximise its investment by selling to all of Europe will be subject to a large number of different consumer protection systems. In the UK, for example, the following laws will typically apply to an online sale:

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