§5.11.3 Goods liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly

Article 16 (d) the supply of goods which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly; ‘Liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly’ is an objective characteristic of the good concerned. Some of the obvious examples of goods liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly referred to in point (d) are: — Foods and beverages with short expiry time limits, including those to be kept refrigerated; — Take-away restaurant deliveries; — Fresh flowers. However, in case of subscription contracts for regular take-away restaurant deliveries, whilst there would be no right of withdrawal from the actual delivery, the consumer can nevertheless cancel the subscription under the right of withdrawal rules for “regular delivery of goods” in accordance with Article 9(2)(b)(iii), i.e. 14 days from receipt of the first delivery. Plants by their nature they have a limited lifespan during which their features are preserved. In principle, the requirement for active intervention by someone (e.g. delivery company, consumer) in order to preserve their features renders such plants objectively different from other goods (textiles, electronic equipment etc.). Those other goods are not ‘liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly’ if they are stored in appropriate conditions and the consumer is merely required to refrain from exposing them to abnormal conditions before sending them back, in order to avoid the liability implied by Article 14(2). Therefore, a case-by-case assessment is needed taking into account the care necessary for the plants to keep their features over a longer period, including in case of return by the consumer. Hence, only where the respective plants are not ‘liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly’, the right of withdrawal should apply.

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