§3.2.5 Arrangements for payment

Examples of arrangements for payment that should be particularly clearly explained to the consumer are: — Payment via the consumer’s telephone bill; — In subscription contracts, such as for online video games, the arrangement whereby the trader uses the information about the means of payment (such as credit card details) provided by the consumer at the time of initial subscription also for billing subsequent purchases without prompting the consumer to re-enter this information. Payments are subject to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council (86) on payment services (see also section 8 concerning Article 19 on the fees for the use of means of payment). Its Article 64(1) states that ‘Member States shall ensure that a payment transaction is considered to be authorised only if the payer has given consent to execute the payment transaction. A payment transaction may be authorised by the payer prior to or, if agreed between the payer and the payment service provider, after the execution of the payment transaction’. Furthermore, consumers should be clearly informed, up-front and in a prominent manner, about the payment arrangements for these additional purchases before signing up to the main digital product in which they are offered. The default setting for payments should not allow the additional purchases to be made without the consumer’s explicit consent (e.g. via a password or other appropriate means). Regarding in-app purchases, when the system provides for time slots for the validity of authentication (e.g. a 15 minutes slot), traders should not automatically apply default settings, but rather request the consumer’s explicit consent also in relation to the applicable duration of the validity (87).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07