On 6 June, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the directive concerning financial services contracts concluded at a distance. The directive aims at strengthening consumer protection and ensuring a level playing field for financial services offered at a distance.

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the number of financial services and for that reason the European institutions have decided to review the relevant EU legislation.

The agreement intends to improve the rules on information disclosure and aims to modernise the obligation to provide information prior to the conclusion of a contract. It preserves the possibility for the Member States to apply more stringent national regulations in this area, and therefore indicates the minimum statutory consumer protection level.

The agreement also intends to facilitate the exercise of the right to withdraw from a contract concluded at a distance. The online interfaces of service providers will be required to have a withdrawal function that, in principle, should make the withdrawal from a contract no more difficult that entering into it.

Source: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/pl/press/press-releases/2023/06/06/council-and-parliament-reach-provisional-political-agreement-on-financial-services-contracts-concluded-at-a-distance/