Whether or not contracted online
Whether or not contracted online
I recently signed up online for a course at a local school. Unfortunately, I can no longer attend. Does the school have the right to demand that I pay for the course, given that I haven't signed a contract?
Belle, Geneva
It is important to know that in Swiss law, article 11 of the Code of Obligations (CO) states that the validity of contracts is subject to compliance with a particular form only if a special provision of the law so requires. The Federal Supreme Court has also taught us that a teaching contract does not exist as such, but is mainly subject to the rules governing agency contracts.
Articles 394 et seq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations, which govern agency contracts, do not require such contracts to be printed on paper or signed by hand. It is therefore perfectly possible to subscribe to a training course over the internet and find oneself contractually bound.
However, the Unfair Competition Act (UCA) lays down four conditions to which merchants offering services via e-commerce must adhere: they must clearly and completely indicate their identity and contact address, including for e-mail; they must indicate the various technical stages leading to the conclusion of a contract; they must provide appropriate tools for detecting and correcting input errors before sending an order; and they must confirm the customer's order by post without delay.
If the mechanism for concluding the contract is set out in general terms and conditions, it is important to ensure that these have been incorporated into the process. Swiss legislation is not very restrictive, and simply ticking the 'famous box' indicating that you have read the general terms and conditions is sufficient, provided of course that they are easily accessible from the page in question (by means of a link, for example).
As a result, if you actually declared that you were entering into a contract when you registered online, or if you accepted the general terms and conditions specifying that you were doing so, and that the rules laid down by the LCD have been complied with, you could be held financially liable by the school, which would be entitled, for example, to claim compensation from you if you cancelled your registration at an inopportune time.
