Refund
policy

• Content that is not delivered, is inaccessible through the platform’s fault, does not conform, or differs from the edition purchased is refunded.
• The fourteen-day right of withdrawal applies, unless the consumer buyer has expressly requested immediate access and acknowledged losing that right (a box unticked by default).
• Refunds are made by Stripe, merchant of record for the transaction, to the means of payment used, at no cost to the buyer. A full refund ends access to the edition.
• Sales are opened or closed by decision of the publisher. Their state is shown on the page of each study: when sales are closed, no price is displayed there and no payment is possible; when they are open, the study can be bought individually, edition by edition, on the terms below.

The binding text is that of the general terms of sale, whose articles 5 to 9 are reproduced below.

A consumer buyer has fourteen days to withdraw (French Consumer Code, Art. L. 221-18 (fourteen-day period)). For digital content supplied on no tangible medium, this right can no longer be exercised once performance has begun, after payment, with the consumer’s prior express consent and their express acknowledgement that they thereby lose this right (French Consumer Code, Art. L. 221-28, 13° — Directive 2011/83/EU, Art. 16(m)).

The order process collects this consent through a box unticked by default, separate from acceptance of these terms, bearing the following wording; without it, no order is passed on to payment:

“I request that the supply of this digital content begins immediately after my payment, and I acknowledge that I thereby lose my fourteen-day right of withdrawal.”

As the content is delivered on payment, the online order requires this consent; a buyer who wishes to keep their right of withdrawal may contact customer service (article 9) before ordering. The consent given is kept with its proof — exact wording, fingerprint, timestamp, version of these terms (express consent (Art. L. 221-28, 13°) — no pre-ticked box, no consent inferred from a default (CJEU, Planet49, C-673/17)) — and restated in the confirmation on a durable medium (French Consumer Code, Art. L. 221-13).

• Express consent to immediate performance. A box UNTICKED by default, separate from acceptance of the terms of sale, whose wording states that supply begins upon payment. No consent is inferred from a payment click, from scrolling or from the passage of time.
• Express acknowledgement of the loss of the right of withdrawal. In the same wording, the buyer acknowledges that, because supply has begun, they lose their fourteen-day right of withdrawal. The wording names the right being given up; it does not paraphrase it.
• Applies to consumers, stated to business buyers. The waiver only has effect for a consumer; a buyer who declares themselves a business sees the same box, with a note that the law does not grant them a right of withdrawal. No box is hidden depending on status: the payment operator determines the status when the order is placed.
• Proof of consent retained. Timestamp, order identifier, edition purchased, version of this contract, exact wording displayed and its fingerprint, language, and the fact that the box was unticked before the buyer acted. The proof is kept with the access right it opened, and provided to the buyer on request.
• Confirmation on a durable medium. An email, sent after payment, restates the consent and the waiver in the exact terms of the accepted wording, the edition purchased, the price excluding taxes and the amount set by the payment operator, the date, and a reminder of the statutory conformity guarantees, which are never lost.

Where it is available, the right of withdrawal is exercised by an unambiguous statement sent to customer service (article 9), for example using the following model: “I hereby give notice that I withdraw from the contract for the purchase of [edition], ordered on [date], under number [order]. Name, address, date.” The refund is then made within fourteen days of receipt of the statement, using the means of payment used.

Waiving the right of withdrawal does not mean waiving conformity. The digital content delivered must conform to the edition purchased as described, and be accessible and readable under the stated conditions (French Consumer Code, Art. L. 224-25-1 et seq. — Directive (EU) 2019/770). In the event of a lack of conformity, the consumer buyer is entitled to have the content brought into conformity or, failing that, to a price reduction or to termination of the sale, under the conditions laid down by the French Consumer Code.

• The statutory conformity guarantees for digital content remain in full.
• Content that is not delivered, is inaccessible through a fault of the platform, or differs from the edition purchased entitles the buyer to a refund, through the payment operator, regardless of the waiver.
• The waiver covers only the edition purchased; it does not extend to any future purchase.

Statutory rights apply in all circumstances. This article does not limit them, make them conditional or replace them; no provision of these terms may be read as excluding a right that the law grants to the consumer buyer. They include in particular: reimbursement of all sums paid after a withdrawal exercised while the right was available (article 5; French Consumer Code, Art. L. 221-24); termination of the contract and a refund when the digital content is not supplied (Art. L. 224-25-10 and L. 224-25-11); in the event of a lack of conformity, bringing the content into conformity or, failing that, a price reduction or termination of the contract (article 6; Art. L. 224-25-12 et seq.), the refund then being made free of charge, without undue delay and at the latest within fourteen days of the trader being informed (Art. L. 224-25-23).

Contractual commitment. In addition to these rights, and without any lack of conformity having to be established, France ÉcoScan has an order refunded in full when the edition served is not the one purchased, or when the paid content remains inaccessible through the platform’s fault and is not restored within a reasonable time after being reported (article 8).

Goodwill gesture. Outside these cases, France ÉcoScan may grant a full or partial refund as a goodwill gesture, case by case. Such a gesture is never a precondition for exercising a statutory right, does not amount to the buyer waiving that right, and creates no obligation for the future.

Who makes the refund. The refund is made by Stripe, merchant of record for the transaction (article 3), to the means of payment used, unless the buyer expressly agrees to another means, and at no cost to them. Requests go to customer service (article 9), which has them carried out; Link support may also be contacted about the transaction itself. A full refund ends access to the refunded edition; a partial refund does not withdraw it. A payment disputed with the bank and finally lost also ends access; a dispute in progress does not suspend it.

To inform the assessment of conformity, without restricting it: what each edition contains is described before purchase, in its preview, its table of contents and its method, and mere disagreement with the conclusions of an analysis does not in itself constitute a lack of conformity. Conformity is assessed against the statutory criteria (Art. L. 224-25-13 and L. 224-25-14).

Paid content that does not open, an access right that is not recorded, or an account that cannot find its purchase are failures of the platform, never of the buyer: they are reported to customer service (article 9), handled as a priority, and give entitlement to restoration of access or, failing that, to a refund (article 7). A temporary unavailability of the service for maintenance or security does not deprive the buyer of their access right, which is restored when the interruption ends.

Customer service: Contact the publisher

Every complaint is acknowledged. If no amicable solution is found, the consumer buyer may refer the matter free of charge to a consumer mediator (French Consumer Code, Art. L. 612-1 and L. 616-1). These terms are governed by French law; consumers keep the protection of the mandatory provisions of their country of residence.

Consumer mediation body: Centre de la Médiation de la Consommation de Conciliateurs de Justice (CM2C), 49 rue de Ponthieu, 75008 Paris, France. After a written complaint to customer service that has not been resolved, a consumer may refer the dispute to CM2C free of charge within one year of that complaint: online (https://www.cm2c.net/comment-nous-saisir.php), by email (declarer-un-litige@cm2c.net), by post to the address above, or by phone (+33 1 89 47 00 14).