Justice of the peace of Milan, judgment 116317/13, on the right of withdrawal under the Italian Consumer Code — decided when online shopping was still a novelty in the Italian courts.
What the case was about
A consumer bought online and withdrew within the statutory period, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt sent to the seller — the traditional Italian method, and the one that proves the date beyond argument.
The seller's own procedure required something else first: a returned goods authorisation number, to be requested and waited for before anything could be sent back. The practical effect is that the consumer's time runs out while the request sits unanswered.
What the court decided
The withdrawal was valid. A seller's internal return procedure cannot displace the period the law gives the consumer, nor make the exercise of a statutory right conditional on the seller's own cooperation.
Why it matters
The principle has outlived the case. The Consumer Code — legislative decree 206 of 6 September 2005 — now gives fourteen days to withdraw from a distance contract, where at the time of this judgment it was ten. The reasoning is unchanged: the period belongs to the buyer, and no clause or procedure may consume it.
The practical advice we drew from the case is still worth following. Ask for the return number, give the seller a short deadline to provide it — three days is enough — and if it does not arrive, send the registered letter anyway, asking for the price back. Do not wait politely while the clock runs.