§ 1. Which purchases the Act covers
The Right of Withdrawal Act applies when you, as an ordinary consumer, buy something from a business, and you bought it online, over the phone, or outside their shop — for example in your own home or at a stand. As a general rule, you then have the right to cancel the purchase.
Machine-translated from Norwegian. The Norwegian text is the one that applies. Read the original in Norwegian.Norsk English العربية Polski Українська
The text of the law (unofficial translation)
The Act applies to the sale of goods and services to a consumer when the trader (næringsdrivende) is acting in the course of business, the consumer pays or undertakes to pay a price, and the contract is concluded by distance selling (fjernsalg) or as an off-premises sale (salg utenom faste forretningslokaler). The Act also applies where the consumer provides or undertakes to provide personal data (personopplysninger) to the trader. The second sentence nevertheless does not apply if the personal data are processed by the trader exclusively in order to supply the goods, the digital content (digitalt innhold) that is not supplied on a physical medium or the digital service (digital tjeneste), or in order to comply with statutory obligations, and the trader does not process this data for any other purpose.
Chapters 2 to 5 of the Act and §§ 28 and 29 also apply to anyone who, in the course of business, acts on behalf of a non-trader seller or service provider in situations as mentioned in the first paragraph.
The Act applies to Svalbard and Jan Mayen. The Ministry (Departementet) may nevertheless by regulation (forskrift) decide that all or parts of the Act shall not apply, and lay down special rules with regard to local conditions.
What does this mean?
§ 1 sets out which purchases the Act covers. Four conditions must be met:
- You must be a consumer. You are buying something as a private individual (privatperson), not for your company.
- The seller must be a trader. It is a business, not a private individual selling an old sofa on Finn.
- You must pay something. Either money, or personal data that the seller uses for marketing or other purposes. If the seller only uses your data to deliver the item itself, it does not count as "payment".
- The purchase must take place at a distance or outside the shop. That means online, over the phone, by email, in your home, at a stand in a shopping centre, or similar. When you walk into an ordinary shop and buy something over the counter, the Right of Withdrawal Act does not apply.
The third paragraph says that the Act also applies in Svalbard and Jan Mayen.
Examples
Anne buys a pair of shoes on Zalando for NOK 1,200. She pays with Vipps. This is classic distance selling — she has not met the seller in person. All four conditions are met: she is a consumer, Zalando is a business, she pays NOK 1,200, and she shopped online. The Right of Withdrawal Act applies, and she can cancel within 14 days after she receives the shoes.
Lars is at home when a salesperson from a solar energy company rings the doorbell. The salesperson persuades him to order solar panels for NOK 80,000. Lars signs on a tablet at the kitchen table. This is an off-premises sale — the salesperson came to his home. Lars has a 14-day right of withdrawal. If, on the other hand, he had gone into the company's shop and signed there, the Act would not have applied.
Common mistakes
- You think the right of withdrawal applies to purchases in a physical shop. It does not. If you walk into an H&M and buy a sweater, there is no statutory right of withdrawal. Any option to exchange is just the shop's own offer.
- You think the right of withdrawal applies to purchases from private individuals. If you buy something on Finn from a private individual, the Right of Withdrawal Act does not apply. If you buy from a trader on Finn, it does.
- You think "free" trial periods paid for with your personal data are free. If the seller uses your data for marketing or sales, it counts as payment — and the Act applies in full.
What should you do?
When you shop, ask yourself: did I buy this online, over the phone, or outside the shop's premises? And did I buy it from a business? If the answer to both is yes, you probably have a right of withdrawal. Check the following sections for how long the deadline is and how to proceed.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Right of Withdrawal Act apply if I buy something on Vinmonopolet's website?
What about purchases on Facebook Marketplace?
- § 2Which purchases still fall outside the Act
- § 5Definitions of "consumer", "distance selling" and similar terms
- § 20How to use your right of withdrawal
- § 21The 14-day withdrawal period