Consumers will have the right to a refund for goods bought online within two weeks of receiving them under new EU laws approved by the European Parliament. Current UK law says that distance-sold goods can be returned within seven days.
EU ministers must approve the proposed new Consumer Rights Directive before it will become EU law.
Purchasers that receive deliveries of multiple orders or parts of goods at different times will have 14 days to claim a refund from the time of the last delivery, a draft of the new consumer laws approved by the Parliament said.
"Since in the case of distance sales, the consumer is not able to see the goods before concluding the contract, he should have a right of withdrawal," the consumer laws state, according to the provisional document (Click through to Texts Part 3 provisional version – Word document).
"For the same reason, the consumer should be allowed to test and inspect the goods he wants to buy to the extent necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods," the document said.
"In the case of sales contracts, the withdrawal period should expire 14 days from the day when the consumer or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by the consumer acquires physical possession of the goods, while the consumer should be able to exercise the right to withdraw before the receipt of goods," the document said.
There is no right to return customer-specified or personalised products, the document said.
The Consumer Rights Directive also states that online traders must give buyers information on the total price of goods including extra fees, according to the European Commission.
"Online shoppers will not have to pay charges or other costs if they were not properly informed before they place an order," The European Commission said in a statement.
The Directive seeks to harmonise existing European laws for consumer rights in cross-border trading which will benefit both consumers and businesses, the European Parliament said.
"As current EU rules on consumer rights predate the digital revolution, consumers today are poorly protected when shopping on line," a European Parliament statement said.
"Concerns about late or non-delivery of goods as well as the patchwork fragmentation of Member States' consumer protection rules are holding consumers back from on-line cross-border shopping. At the same time, businesses cite legislative differences among Member States as the main reason for not selling across borders," the statement said.
The Parliament overwhelmingly voted to support the Consumer Rights Directive on Thursday. The laws will now go before the EU's Council of Ministers for formal approval. EU countries will then have two years to enact the Directive in national laws.
The Consumer Rights Directive was originally proposed in 2008 by the European Commission but was opposed by some countries, including the UK, where it would have reduced consumer protection.
The Directive was criticised in the UK over harmonisation plans that would have withdrawn some elements of the right UK customers' have to reject goods.
The Council of Ministers stripped the measure of many controversial elements and passed the remainder of the Directive on to the European Parliament for approval.
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