El plazo para ejercitar el derecho de desistimiento en los contratos a distancia y en los celebrados fuera de establecimiento mercantil (1)

Résumé

The right of withdrawal is one of the fundamental mechanisms underlying the consumer and user protection, allowing them to terminate unilaterally a valid contractual relationship without expressing any justification, always within the time limit established by law. Thus, the time limit to exercise that right is structured as a critical element shaping the right of withdrawal. Its regulation has suffered a major change as a consequence of Directive 2011/83/EU (responsible for the reform of the Consolidated Draft of the General Law for the Defence of Consumers and Users (TRLGDCU) operated by Law 3/2014, of 27th March), mainly in relation to distance and off-premises contracts, which affects the extension, character, calculation, determination, and even types of time limits, which are set depending on whether the consumer has received or not the information legally established about the right of withdrawal.