§ 3-47. Deadline for notice of complaint when the service provider has made an error

This section sets a deadline for when a customer must report errors by the service provider. The customer must give notice of the breach (that the service has not been provided as it should) within a reasonable time after the error was discovered, or should have been discovered. Special rules on notice of complaint in other provisions may take precedence. If the customer is a consumer, the deadline can never be shorter than two months from when the customer discovered the error.

The consequence of waiting too long is serious. If the customer does not give notice of complaint in time, the customer loses the right to claim anything because of the breach. The exception is if the service provider has acted with gross negligence or otherwise dishonestly and contrary to good faith. Claims may also lapse under the rules of the Limitation Act. The third paragraph extends the rules to claims against a third party, where the customer under the Act can make a claim against someone else for breach of the service provider's obligations.

Notice of complaint is linked to the sanctions. § 3-46 states that breach of the service provider's obligations can give grounds for cancellation of the contract (heving) under § 3-48 and compensation (erstatning) under § 3-49. The customer can cancel the contract in the event of material breach (vesentlig mislighold), and the service provider is liable for financial loss that could have been foreseen. The deadline in § 3-47 comes in addition: anyone who waits too long risks losing the claim. § 3-50 exempts the service provider from liability in the event of unusual circumstances beyond its control.

§ 3-51 has a side concerning the service provider's right to cancel: the service provider can cancel the contract in the event of material breach on the customer's part, for example when the customer has deliberately withheld or falsified information that was a precondition for the offer, or if the customer goes bankrupt. That section has the heading "The service provider's right to cancel the agreement. Notice of complaint" and refers to this one.

Example: a consumer discovers that the service provider has made an error. The consumer then has at least two months from the discovery to give notice. If the consumer only gives notice after the deadline, the claim may be lost, unless the service provider has acted with gross negligence or dishonestly. The rules on the right of withdrawal (angrerett) in § 3-43 to § 3-45 are something else: they concern what happens when the customer uses the right of withdrawal, not breach.