In short. BGB Section 312k requires eligible consumer contracts offered through a website to have accessible cancellation and confirmation buttons.
Definition: As of 17 October 2026, Section 312k of Germany's Civil Code (BGB) requires a cancellation button for eligible ongoing consumer contracts offered through a website. The rule covers contracts obliging a business to supply goods or services for payment, subject to statutory exceptions.
Key facts
- BGB Section 312k(2) requires an initial cancellation button leading directly to a confirmation page with a separate submission button.
- BGB Section 13 defines a consumer as a natural person acting predominantly outside their trade or self-employed professional activity.
- Article 229 Section 60 of the Introductory Act to the Civil Code (EGBGB) extends the button duties to contractual relationships established before 1 July 2022.
- BGB Section 126b defines text form as a readable declaration identifying its maker on a durable medium, which permits retention and unchanged reproduction.
Which contracts qualify, and which are excluded?
BGB Section 312k(1) applies when consumers can conclude the relevant contract through a website in electronic commerce. The contract must establish a continuing contractual relationship, called a Dauerschuldverhältnis, obliging the business to supply goods or services for payment.
The same subsection excludes contracts whose termination is legally subject exclusively to a form stricter than text form. It also excludes websites concerning financial services and contracts for financial services.
Older contracts fall within the transitional rule: EGBGB Article 229 Section 60 expressly applies the duties in the version of Section 312k dated 1 July 2022 to relationships established before that day.
What must the buttons and confirmation page contain?
BGB Section 312k(2) requires the initial button to bear only the legible words “Verträge hier kündigen”, or equivalent unambiguous wording. A link to the confirmation page can use the statutory label:
<a href="/cancel-contract">Verträge hier kündigen</a>
Activating that control must lead directly to the confirmation page. The page must invite and enable the consumer to supply:
- The type of termination and, for extraordinary termination, the reason.
- Information uniquely identifying the consumer.
- Information uniquely identifying the contract.
- The intended contract end date.
- Details enabling rapid electronic delivery of the cancellation confirmation.
The confirmation page must contain a submission button labelled only “jetzt kündigen”, or equivalent unambiguous wording. Activating it submits the termination declaration. Both buttons and the confirmation page must remain continuously available and directly and easily accessible. The process must support ordinary and extraordinary termination.
What proof and confirmation must the website provide?
BGB Section 312k(3) requires consumers to be able to save their declaration with the submission date and time on a durable medium. The saved record must show that the declaration was submitted by activating the confirmation button.
A durable medium, defined in BGB Section 126b, lets the recipient retain a personally addressed declaration for a period appropriate to its purpose and reproduce it unchanged.
Under Section 312k(4), the business must immediately confirm electronically, in text form, the declaration's content, the date and time of receipt, and the intended contract end date. Receipt is presumed to occur immediately after submission through the confirmation button.
What happens if the required process is missing?
Under BGB Section 312k(6), failure to provide the buttons and confirmation page in accordance with subsections (1) and (2) lets the consumer terminate an eligible contract at any time without observing a notice period. The consumer's right to extraordinary termination remains available.
Related terms
FAQ
Must I give a reason for an ordinary cancellation?
BGB Section 312k(2) requires a reason only in the case of extraordinary termination.
What happens if I leave the end date blank?
Section 312k(5) provides that, in case of doubt, your cancellation takes effect at the earliest possible date if you specify no intended end date.
Sources
- Gesetze im Internet, “BGB Section 312k: Kündigung von Verbraucherverträgen im elektronischen Geschäftsverkehr”, undated
- Gesetze im Internet, “BGB Section 13: Verbraucher”, undated
- Gesetze im Internet, “EGBGB Article 229 Section 60: Übergangsvorschrift zum Gesetz für faire Verbraucherverträge”, undated
- Gesetze im Internet, “BGB Section 126b: Textform”, undated
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