paypal-Photo by Marques Thomas on Unsplash.jp
(BRUSSELS) – US fintech giant Paypal committed Wednesday to modifying its terms and conditions to make them easier to understand for consumers, following dialogue with the EU Commission.
Consumer organisations started a dialogue with Paypal in May 2023, saying the company’s terms and conditions were unreasonably difficult to understand and unfair for consumers.
PayPal has now agreed to address issues raised by the consumer protection authorities and amend the problematic clauses of its User Agreement to better comply with the Unfair Contract Terms Directive. Paypal’s commitments will bring the company’s practices in line with the requirements of EU consumer law, says the EU executive.
PayPal has agreed to changew its user agreement by
- clarifying which clauses apply to consumers and which to businesses only;
- removing provisions requiring consumers to check compliance with the law (for example, ‘to the extent permitted by law’);
- making clear that consumers are not liable for damage which is not their fault or could not have been foreseen;
- removing provisions which impose on consumers an obligation to verify the information themselves (such as stating that PayPal cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information);
- ensuring consumers understand they can benefit from the law of their country of residence in case of a dispute;
- removing terms which cannot be understood by consumers without further explanations or verification by consumers, such as ‘merchantability’ or ‘non-infringement’.
Paypal will notify the changes to users by means of a Policy Update on 21 February 2024 and these iwll formally take effect on 28 May 2024.
