The EU 14-day withdrawal period: when it starts, when it ends, worked examples

The 14 days of the EU right of withdrawal are short, and most disputes about them are not about the number but about the calendar: on which day the clock starts, whether the delivery day counts, what a Saturday at the end does, and whether a late-night email on the last day is still in time. Directive 2011/83/EU answers the first question in Article 9(2), and the EU rule on time limits, Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71, answers the rest. This page walks through both for a Shopify store, with worked examples. The wider right, the exceptions and the refund are covered in our EU returns rules guide, and the online withdrawal function in the withdrawal button guide.

This page explains the Directive in plain words. It is not legal advice; the national law that transposes the Directive applies in each country.

1. When the 14 days start (Article 9(2))

Article 9(1) gives the consumer 14 days to withdraw from a distance contract without a reason. Article 9(2) says on which day those 14 days begin, and the answer depends on what the contract is for. For goods the trigger is physical possession, not the order and not the handover to the carrier. A parcel delivered to a neighbour the customer named starts the period; a parcel sitting at the courier's depot does not.

What each line means for a Shopify store:

• Split shipments. If one order leaves your warehouse in two parcels, or you fulfil part of it from a second location, the 14 days for the whole order start with the last parcel (Article 9(2)(b)(i)). The customer may return the first item within 14 days of the second arriving.
• Pre-orders and back-orders. The period does not start at checkout. A pre-order placed in March and delivered in June starts its 14 days in June (Article 9(2)(b)).
• Subscriptions. For a recurring box or a regular delivery over a defined period, the 14 days run from the first delivery (Article 9(2)(b)(iii)). Later deliveries do not restart the withdrawal period, though the customer may still cancel under your terms.
• Digital downloads and services. The period starts on the day of the contract, usually the moment the order is placed (Article 9(2)(a) and (c)). The right can end early when the customer expressly agrees to immediate performance and acknowledges losing the right (Article 16(a) and (m)); the returns guide explains those exceptions.

2. How the days are counted (Regulation 1182/71)

Recital 41 of the Directive says the periods it contains are calendar days and should be calculated under Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71, the EU rule on periods, dates and time limits. Article 3 of that Regulation gives four rules that matter here:

• The event day does not count. A period that runs from an event, here the receipt of the goods, does not include the day of the event (Article 3(1)). Day 1 is the day after delivery.
• The period ends at the end of its last day. A period in days starts at the beginning of its first day and ends with the expiry of the last hour of its last day (Article 3(2)(b)). Day 14 runs to midnight.
• Weekends and holidays inside the period count. Periods include public holidays, Sundays and Saturdays unless they are expressed in working days (Article 3(3)). The 14 days are calendar days, so a bank holiday in the middle changes nothing.
• A weekend or holiday at the end extends it. Where the last day is a public holiday, a Sunday or a Saturday, the period ends with the expiry of the last hour of the following working day (Article 3(4)).

The practical shortcut: day 14 is the same weekday as the delivery day, two weeks later. If that day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, move to the next working day. Member states transpose the Directive into their own law and apply their own rules on time limits to the transposed period, which can differ in detail, for example on which public holidays count. A store that sells across the EU cannot track every national calendar, so round in the consumer's favour: treat a period that ends on a weekend or a holiday as running to the end of the next working day, and accept a withdrawal that arrives a day late when the customer sent it on day 14.

3. Sent in time is in time (Articles 11 and 14)

The consumer does not have to get the withdrawal to you within the period. Article 11(2) says the deadline is met if the communication is sent before the period has expired. A letter posted on day 14, an email sent at 23:50, or a statement submitted through the withdrawal function is in time, even if you read it later; Article 11a(5) repeats the rule for the function. You may ask the customer for the date of sending if it is in doubt, but the burden of proving the withdrawal was exercised lies with the consumer (Article 11(4)), so a sent email or a tracking number settles it.

A second 14-day period follows. The consumer sends the goods back without undue delay and in any event no later than 14 days from the day they communicated the withdrawal; handing the parcel to the carrier within that time is enough (Article 14(1)). Your own 14 days to refund run from the day you are informed of the withdrawal (Article 13(1)), and you may wait until the goods are back or the customer has shown proof of sending (Article 13(3)).

4. When the information is missing (Article 10)

The 14 days assume the store told the customer about the right before the order. Article 6(1)(h) requires the conditions, time limit and procedure for exercising the right, the model withdrawal form, and, where applicable, the existence and placement of the withdrawal function. If that information was not given, Article 10(1) extends the period: it expires 12 months from the end of the initial withdrawal period. If the store gives the information within those 12 months, Article 10(2) applies and the period expires 14 days after the day the consumer receives it.

For a store this means a missing or wrong line in the terms is not a small drafting matter: a customer who received goods on 3 November 2026 may return them until 17 November 2027, and the store cannot deduct for diminished value in the meantime (Article 14(2)). The cure is cheap. Email the information now and the period ends 14 days later.

5. The 30-day option (Article 9(1a))

Article 9(1a), inserted by Directive (EU) 2019/2161, lets a member state extend the 14 days to 30 days for contracts concluded in the context of unsolicited visits by a trader to a consumer's home or of excursions organised by a trader to promote or sell products. It is a national choice, it applies to those sales situations, and it does not reach an order placed in an online store. If your business also sells at home visits or on excursions in a country that took the option, check the national rule.

6. Worked examples with real dates

The dates below use the rules above. The weekday matters, so each example names it.

Two notes on example 4. The 12 months are a period expressed in months, which under Article 3(2)(c) of Regulation 1182/71 ends on the same date in the last month, here 17 November 2027. And the 12 months of Article 10(2) are counted from the day referred to in Article 9(2), the delivery day, so an email on 1 February 2027 is well inside them.

7. What this means for your store's text

• State the period and its start event. Article 6(1)(h) asks for the conditions, time limit and procedure. Write “14 days from the day on which you, or a third party you named other than the carrier, acquire physical possession of the goods”, and add the last-item rule for split deliveries. Do not write “14 days from the order”: it shortens the period for every shipped order and is wrong under Article 9(2)(b).
• Match the start to what you sell. A store that sells subscriptions, digital downloads or services needs the matching line from the table in section 1, not the goods line alone.
• Put it where Shopify shows it. Your refund and returns policy under Settings > Policies is linked from the checkout and the footer. If you use Shopify's return rules with a return window, set it to at least 14 days counted from the delivery of the last item, and let a day or two of margin cover weekend endings.
• Keep the function available for the whole period. Where Article 11a applies, the withdrawal function must be continuously available throughout the withdrawal period (Article 11a(1)), which, after a missing information notice, can be 12 months and 14 days. Our withdrawal button guide covers the labels, the fields and the acknowledgement.
• Offering more is fine. A 30-day or 60-day voluntary window is lawful; the Directive is the floor. State the longer window in the same words everywhere: the policy page, the order confirmation and the returns portal.

Frequently asked questions

Sources (EUR-Lex): Directive 2011/83/EU (consumer rights), Directive (EU) 2023/2673 (withdrawal function, Article 11a), Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (Article 9(1a)), Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 (periods, dates and time limits).