EU model withdrawal form for Shopify stores (Annex I(B) of Directive 2011/83/EU)

Every Shopify store that sells to consumers in the EU at a distance must show them, wherever a right of withdrawal exists, a short standard text: the model withdrawal form of Annex I(B) of Directive 2011/83/EU. It is the slip a customer can fill in to cancel an order within the 14-day withdrawal period. Many stores leave it out or turn it into a mandatory return form. Both are mistakes, and the first one costs you the 14-day limit. This page gives the form in full, explains why you must publish it while the customer need not use it, and shows where to put it in Shopify.

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. The model withdrawal form in full

The form sits in Annex I(B) of the Directive. The first line is the trader's: Directive (EU) 2019/2161 replaced the fax reference of the 2011 text with an email address, applicable since 28 May 2022. Everything after that line is for the consumer. This is how it reads once you fill in your details:

The text in square brackets is yours to replace, the first line with the same name, address and email address you show in your legal notice, and the email must be one somebody reads. The national act that transposes the Directive may word the form slightly differently, and the official translation in your customer's language is the one to use for that market.

2. Why the store must provide it

Article 6(1)(h) requires the trader, before the consumer is bound by a distance contract, to give “the conditions, time limit and procedures for exercising” the right of withdrawal “as well as the model withdrawal form set out in Annex I(B)”. Since the 2023 amendment the same point also asks, where applicable, for the existence and placement of the withdrawal function of Article 11a. The form is therefore information, in the same group as the 14-day period and the procedure.

Article 6(4) makes life easier: the information on the right of withdrawal may be given by means of the model instructions on withdrawal in Annex I(A), and the trader has met the duty when those instructions are supplied “correctly filled in”. Annex I(A) refers to the form, so most stores publish the instructions and the form together. Our free EU returns policy template contains both. The broad rules on the 14 days, refunds and exceptions are in the EU returns rules guide.

Article 8(7) adds a second moment: a confirmation of the contract on a durable medium, at the latest at delivery, with the Article 6(1) information unless it was already given on a durable medium. That is why the form belongs in the order confirmation email as well.

3. Why the customer need not use it

Article 11(1) says the consumer informs the trader of the decision to withdraw before the period ends, and may do so either by using the model form or “by making any other unequivocal statement”. A two-line email, a letter, or the withdrawal button all work. The heading of the form says the same thing: complete and return it only if you wish to withdraw.

Article 11(2) sets the timing rule: the deadline is met if the consumer sends the communication before the period expires. Article 11(4) places the burden of proof on the consumer, which is the practical reason the form exists: a customer who keeps a copy can show what was sent and when.

Article 11(3) covers the online version. A trader may let the consumer fill in and submit the model form, or any other unequivocal statement, electronically on the trader's website. If the store offers that option, it must send an acknowledgement of receipt on a durable medium without delay. A web form with no confirmation email does not meet this.

4. Form or withdrawal button?

Since 19 June 2026, Article 11a, inserted by Directive (EU) 2023/2673, requires a withdrawal function on every store that concludes distance contracts through an online interface. The two are easy to confuse and both are required. The form is information the store gives; the function is a button the consumer uses.

The labels, the confirmation step and the Shopify setup of the function are in the EU withdrawal button guide.

5. Where the form goes in Shopify

Put the form in four places, with the same text in each, and never behind a customer login. A consumer who ordered as a guest must find it as easily as one with an account.

1. The refund and returns policy

1. In the Shopify admin open Settings > Policies.
2. Open the return and refund policy. If the automated policy is switched on, switch it off so you can edit the text.
3. Paste the withdrawal instructions and the model form under them. Save.

Shopify serves the page at /policies/refund-policyand links it in the checkout footer. Add it to your footer menu under Content > Menus as well, so it is one click away on every page.

2. The order confirmation email

1. Open Settings > Notifications > Customer notifications > Order confirmation.
2. Click Edit code and paste the instructions and the form at the end of the email body.
3. Save and use Send test email to check the result.

The email is the durable medium of Article 8(7). A link to a page you can change at any time is weaker than the text itself in the message.

3. A downloadable PDF

Some customers want to print the form, and the signature line applies when the form is sent on paper. Upload a PDF under Content > Files, copy its link and place the link under the form on the policy page and in the email.

4. The checkout policy links

Under Settings > Checkout, keep the refund policy among the policies shown in the checkout footer. The pre-contract information of Article 6(1) must reach the consumer before the order, and the checkout is the last place where that happens.

6. Mistakes that cost the 14-day limit

• No form at all. The information of Article 6(1)(h) is incomplete, so Article 10 applies: the withdrawal period is extended by 12 months, and if you supply the information within those 12 months, it ends 14 days after the consumer receives it.
• Changed wording.Article 6(1)(h) refers to the form “set out in Annex I(B)”, and Article 11(1) lets no one add formal requirements to it beyond Annex I(B). Rewrite it and you no longer give the form the Directive names.
• Asking for a reason.The consumer withdraws “without giving any reason” (Article 9(1)). A mandatory reason field, in the form or in a return portal, adds a condition the Directive does not allow.
• Making the form mandatory.“Returns are accepted only with our form” contradicts Article 11(1). Any unequivocal statement is a valid withdrawal.
• Requiring the original packaging.The Directive does not make the right conditional on packaging. The consumer is liable for diminished value only where the handling went beyond what was needed to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods (Article 14(2)), and terms that directly or indirectly waive the consumer's rights are not binding (Article 25).
• Placeholder left in.“[here the trader's name ... is to be inserted]” on a live store means the form names nobody. Fill it in.

7. A worked example

A customer in Austria orders a lamp on 3 March and receives it on 6 March. The 14 days run from receipt (Article 9(2)), so the period ends on 20 March. On 18 March the customer writes an email: “I withdraw from order #1042, the lamp, received on 6 March.” No form, no reason. That is an unequivocal statement under Article 11(1), sent in time under Article 11(2).

What the store does: had the customer used the online form or the withdrawal function, an acknowledgement on a durable medium would be due (Article 11(3), without delay; Article 11a(4), without undue delay, with the date and time of its submission); for the email a short reply with the date is sensible. The customer sends the lamp back within 14 days (Article 14(1)). The store refunds all payments including standard delivery within 14 days of being told, by the same payment method (Article 13(1)), and may wait until the lamp is back or proof of sending arrives (Article 13(3)).

Sources (EUR-Lex): Directive 2011/83/EU (consumer rights, Annex I(B)), Directive (EU) 2019/2161 (the email address in the form), Directive (EU) 2023/2673 (withdrawal function, Article 11a).

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