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You create a legal scan for your webshop by testing your shop point by point against consumer law, privacy regulations, and general terms and conditions requirements, and documenting for each section whether you comply and what needs to be adjusted. A good scan is more than just ticking off a checklist: it links every risk to a concrete improvement. Below is a list of what should be included in a complete scan.
The short answer
- Ordering process and information: check the information obligations for distance selling (Art. 6:230m BW).
- Right of withdrawal: check the fourteen-day cooling-off period and the model form (Art. 6:230o BW).
- Privacy and GDPR: check the privacy statement, the legal bases, and the data processing agreements.
- Cookies: assess the cookie banner for valid consent (Art. 11.7a Telecommunications Act).
- General terms and conditions: check the validity and the manner of making them available (Art. 6:233 and 6:234 BW).
Drafting a legal scan of a webshop starts with the ordering process
Before you can complete drafting a legal scan for your webshop, walk through the entire ordering process as a customer would. In distance selling, you must clearly inform the consumer in advance (Art. 6:230m BW): the main characteristics of the product, the total price including VAT and shipping costs, the delivery time, the payment methods, and your contact details. Also check whether the order button clearly indicates that a payment obligation arises. If essential information is missing, you run the risk of enforcement action and disputes regarding the validity of the order.
Right of withdrawal and return policy
The right of withdrawal is the area where most webshops make mistakes. The consumer may return an online purchase within fourteen days without giving a reason (Art. 6:230o BW). Check in the scan whether this period is correctly stated on the site, whether you offer a model withdrawal form, and whether you clearly inform the customer about the conditions and costs of returning the product. If you do not provide proper information, the cooling-off period is extended to a maximum of twelve months.
Include the exceptions in the scan as well. For example, for custom-made products or sealed items that cannot be returned for hygienic reasons, the right of withdrawal does not apply under certain conditions. However, these exceptions must be correctly applied and stated.
Privacy, GDPR and cookies
For the privacy section, verify whether your privacy statement aligns with your actual activities. For each processing activity, determine the legal basis and whether you are collecting more data than necessary. Check whether you have data processing agreements with parties that process data on your behalf, such as your hosting provider, payment service provider, and email tool. Also consider security measures and retention periods.
For cookies, you assess the banner. Prior consent is required for tracking and marketing cookies (Art. 11.7a Telecommunications Act). A banner that places cookies before the customer gives consent, or that only shows an agree button without a genuine option to refuse, does not comply. Also check whether the cookies actually placed correspond to what the banner promises.
General Terms and Conditions
Check whether your general terms and conditions are valid and whether they are presented correctly. For a webshop, you usually make them available before or during the ordering process so that the customer can save them (Articles 6:233 and 6:234 of the Dutch Civil Code). Verify that they do not contain clauses that are unreasonably burdensome for consumers and therefore fall on the grey or black list (Articles 6:236 and 6:237 of the Dutch Civil Code). Finally, check whether the terms align with your actual way of working, because terms that state something different from what you do in practice actually cause confusion.
Practical example
An online electronics shop conducts its own scan using a checklist. This reveals that the general terms and conditions were only displayed after checkout, in the confirmation email, and were therefore not made available before the conclusion of the agreement. As a result, customers could invalidate the terms. This was resolved by displaying the terms with a checkbox before the order button. Such a finding only comes to light if you truly go through the process step by step.
Honest recommendation
For a small webshop on a standard platform with built-in consumer texts, you can perform a basic scan yourself using the checklists from the industry association and the Authority for Consumers and Markets, and you do not immediately need a lawyer. As soon as you use your own terms and conditions, process a lot of personal data, or work with multiple suppliers, a professional scan is advisable. The information obligations, the right of withdrawal, and the GDPR are the areas where the risks lie. Have these points thoroughly reviewed and document what needs to be adjusted for each finding, so that the scan is not just a list of comments but a concrete improvement plan.
Want to know more? View the webshop legal scan, read what a webshop legal scan is and what it costs to have a webshop legal scan drawn up .
Frequently Asked Questions
A review of the ordering process and information obligations (Art. 6:230m BW), the right of withdrawal and return policy (Art. 6:230o BW), the privacy statement and the GDPR, the cookie banner (Art. 11.7a Telecommunications Act), and the general terms and conditions. For each component, you document whether you comply and what needs to be adjusted.
During the ordering process, walk through the webshop as a customer would and check whether all mandatory information is clearly stated beforehand: features, total price including VAT and shipping costs, delivery time, payment methods, and contact details (Art. 6:230m BW). This way, you can immediately see where information is missing.
Because that is where webshops make the most mistakes. The cooling-off period is fourteen days (Art. 6:230o BW) and a model form must be available. If you do not inquire properly, the term is extended to a maximum of twelve months. Also check whether the statutory exceptions have been applied correctly.
Whether the privacy statement aligns with what you actually do, what the legal basis is for each processing activity, whether you do not collect too much data, whether you have data processing agreements with parties that process data on your behalf, and whether security and retention periods are in order.
Prior consent is required for tracking and marketing cookies (Art. 11.7a Telecommunications Act). A banner that places cookies before the customer gives consent, or that does not offer a genuine option to refuse, does not comply. Also check whether the cookies actually placed correspond to what the banner promises.
If you make them available before or during the ordering process so that the customer can save them (Art. 6:233 and 6:234 BW). Conditions that only appear in the confirmation email have not been offered correctly. Unreasonably onerous clauses (Art. 6:236 and 6:237 BW) can be annulled.
For a small webshop on a standard platform, you can perform a basic scan yourself using the checklists from the industry association and the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets. In the case of your own terms and conditions, extensive personal data, or multiple suppliers, a professional assessment is advisable, as the risks increase in those cases.
