The withdrawal acknowledgement email: what counts as a durable medium

Since 19 June 2026, online stores selling to EU consumers must offer a withdrawal function: a clearly labelled button or link that lets the customer withdraw from the contract online (Article 11a of the Consumer Rights Directive, added by Directive (EU) 2023/2673). The button is only half of the duty. Once the customer confirms the withdrawal, you must send an acknowledgement of receipt on a "durable medium". This guide explains what counts as a durable medium, what the acknowledgement must contain, and which other documents your store must send the same way.

How to set up the button itself is in our guide to the EU withdrawal button. What happens after the acknowledgement, the 14-day refund clock, is in our guide to the EU refund deadline after a withdrawal.

What Article 11a requires

Under Article 11a(4), once the customer has used the confirmation function, the trader must send an acknowledgement of receipt of the withdrawal on a durable medium, without undue delay. The acknowledgement must include the content of the withdrawal and the date and time it was submitted. Each EU country writes this into its own law (in Germany, § 356a BGB; see our German guide), but the core is the same everywhere. Four requirements follow from it:

• Trigger:the customer's click on the confirmation function, not your review of the withdrawal.
• Timing: without undue delay. An automatic email is the safe way.
• Content:at least the content of the withdrawal (the customer's name, the details of the contract and the electronic contact details for the acknowledgement) and the date and time it was submitted.
• Form: a durable medium. That is the next section.

What a durable medium is

Article 2(10) of the Consumer Rights Directive defines it: a durable medium is any instrument that enables the consumer or the trader to store information addressed personally to them in a way accessible for future reference, for a period adequate for the purposes of the information, and that allows the unchanged reproduction of the information stored.

Two points decide it: the customer must be able to keep the message on their side, and you must not be able to change it afterwards. The table shows what that means for the usual channels of an online store.

Two judgments of the Court of Justice draw the line. In Content Services(C-49/11, 5 July 2012, under the earlier Distance Selling Directive 97/7/EC), a link to the trader's website was not enough: the information was neither given to nor received by the consumer. In BAWAG(C-375/15, 25 January 2017, a payment services case whose reasoning is applied by analogy), the Court accepted an electronic mailbox in online banking only under two conditions: the bank cannot change the content on its own, and it actively tells the customer about the new message, for example by email. Whether that was met was for the national court to decide. A standard Shopify customer account does not meet this as a matter of course, so an email with the full text is the simple and safe way.

What to put in the acknowledgement

• The customer's name, as they entered it in the form
• The order number and, for a partial withdrawal, the items concerned
• The text of the withdrawal statement
• The date and time of submission, ideally with the time zone (for example CET)
• What happens next (return of the goods, refund within 14 days under Article 13(1) of the Directive)

Word it as an acknowledgement of receipt, not as an acceptance. Our reading: a line such as "your withdrawal is hereby confirmed" can suggest that you have already checked it is valid, for example that it came within the period. A note that you will now review the withdrawal keeps the two steps apart.

What else your store must send on a durable medium

The durable medium is not new. It appears at several points in online selling, and one Shopify email template often meets more than one duty.

For the contract confirmation, Shopify's "Order confirmation" notification (Settings > Notifications) works if it carries the required information or your legal texts as text or as a PDF attachment. A link to your terms page alone is not enough, for the reasons above. More on the withdrawal information is in our guide to the EU model withdrawal form, and more on guarantees in our guide to the EU legal guarantee notice.

Proof and failed sends

In a dispute, you must be able to show that the acknowledgement went out. For every withdrawal, keep the time it arrived, the time the acknowledgement was sent and the email address used. If an acknowledgement bounces, our reading is that you should send it again to the email address on the order and note both. The withdrawal itself stays valid: under Article 11a(5), the customer withdrew in time if they submitted the withdrawal before the period ended.

Checklist

• Does every click on "Confirm withdrawal" send an automatic email?
• Is the full content in the email itself or in a PDF attachment, not only behind a link?
• Does it include the name, the order, the items concerned, and the date and time with time zone?
• Is it worded as an acknowledgement of receipt, not as an acceptance of the withdrawal?
• Do you keep the arrival time, the send time and the email address, and do you have a plan for bounces?
• Does your order confirmation carry the withdrawal information as text or PDF, not only as a link?

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights, Articles 2(10), 8(7), 11, 11a and 13 (consolidated text)
• Directive 2011/83/EU, recital 23 (original text)
• Directive (EU) 2023/2673, which adds the withdrawal function (Article 11a)
• Directive (EU) 2019/771 on the sale of goods, Article 17 (commercial guarantees)
• Court of Justice, judgment of 5 July 2012, C-49/11, Content Services
• Court of Justice, judgment of 25 January 2017, C-375/15, BAWAG

Last checked: 8 November 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Each EU country writes these rules into its own law; check the rules of the countries you sell to.