Legal

Right of Withdrawal — Notice to Consumers in the EU, EEA and UK

⚠️ DRAFT — NOT LEGAL ADVICE — NOT FOR PUBLICATION
This document was prepared by a non-lawyer as preparatory material for a legal consultation. It has not been reviewed by a qualified lawyer.
This is the single highest-risk document in the set. If the consent mechanism it describes is implemented incorrectly, the consequence is not a fine — it is that every buyer in the EU and UK can demand a full refund and keep nothing owing, for 14 days after every purchase, indefinitely.
Do not publish this document, and do not build the checkout described in it, until a qualified lawyer has reviewed and approved both.
All PLACEHOLDER markers must be completed before review. Clauses marked ⚠️ LAWYER need a specific decision.
Draft prepared: 2026-09-02.

Effective date: 2026-09-22 Trader: Bit State, MB, small partnership (mažoji bendrija), registration number 307056143, Šeduvos g. 29-14, Padubysio k., LT-83250 Pakruojo r., Republic of Lithuania Email: hello@assaygrade.com Product: Assay Grade, sold at https://assaygrade.com Payments processed by: Link, acting as Merchant of Record

Who this notice is for

This notice applies to you if you are a consumer — a natural person acting outside your trade, business, craft or profession — and you are resident in:

an EU or EEA member state, where Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights applies as implemented in your country; or
the United Kingdom, where the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply.

If you are buying as a business, the right of withdrawal does not apply to you at all.

If you are outside the EU, EEA and UK, this notice does not apply to you — but our voluntary 30-day satisfaction guarantee in the Refund Policy does, and it is broader than what is described here.

1. Your right of withdrawal

1.1. As a consumer buying at a distance, you normally have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

1.2. When the period starts. For a contract for the supply of digital content that is not supplied on a physical medium, the withdrawal period is 14 days from the day the contract is concluded — that is, the day your purchase is completed and confirmed.

1.3. When it ends. The period expires 14 days after that day. If the last day is a weekend or a public holiday, it runs to the end of the next working day.

1.4. To meet the deadline it is enough that you send your communication about exercising the right before the 14 days expire. You do not need us to have replied.

⚠️ LAWYER: confirm 1.2. Art. 9(2)(a) of Directive 2011/83/EU sets the start of the period for service and digital-content contracts at the day of conclusion of the contract. Confirm the same for UK reg. 30(2)–(3). Also confirm the effect of Art. 10 — if the pre-contractual information under Art. 6(1)(h)–(j) is not properly given, the period extends by 12 months. That extension is a live risk and is the reason this notice must actually be shown before purchase, not just linked in a footer.

2. The exception that applies to this Product

Read this section before you buy. It changes your position.

2.1. This Product is digital content supplied without a physical medium, and it is made available to you immediately after purchase.

2.2. Under Article 16(m) of Directive 2011/83/EU (as amended by Directive (EU) 2019/2161, the "Omnibus" Directive), and under regulation 37 of the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, you lose your right of withdrawal for such content once performance has begun, provided that all three of the following are satisfied:

(a) Prior express consent. You gave your prior express consent for performance to begin during the 14-day withdrawal period.

(b) Acknowledgement. You acknowledged that by giving that consent you would lose your right of withdrawal.

(c) Confirmation on a durable medium. We provided you with confirmation of the concluded contract on a durable medium, including confirmation of (a) and (b).

2.3. All three are required. Consent alone is not enough. Acknowledgement alone is not enough. If any one of them is missing, the exception does not apply and you keep your full 14-day right. See section 6.

2.4. How we obtain your consent and acknowledgement. At checkout, before you pay, you will see a checkbox that is not pre-ticked. You must tick it yourself. Its text is:

☐ I request immediate access to the digital content and I acknowledge that I will lose my right of withdrawal once access begins.

2.5. The payment button. The button that completes your purchase is labelled unambiguously so that it is clear you are entering into an obligation to pay:

Buy now — pay $39

It is never labelled "Submit", "Continue", "Next", "Get access" or anything similar.

2.6. The confirmation email. Immediately after purchase we send you an email to the address you gave. That email is the durable-medium confirmation, and it repeats, in full:

confirmation of the contract concluded;
the fact that you gave prior express consent to immediate performance; and
the fact that you acknowledged you would thereby lose your right of withdrawal.

Keep that email. It is the record of your position, as well as ours.

2.7. Plain-English summary. If you ticked the box and got access, your statutory 14-day right of withdrawal is gone. Your remaining protections are set out in sections 7 and 8.

⚠️ LAWYER: this section carries the most risk in the whole document set. Points to confirm:

That the checkbox is technically unticked by default and cannot be defaulted on. A pre-ticked box is not valid consent; see also Art. 22 of Directive 2011/83/EU and Planet49 (C-673/17) on active consent by analogy.
Whether Link's hosted checkout can carry a custom compliance checkbox at all. The research file records this as unverified for both candidate providers. If it cannot, the consent must be captured on our own page immediately before handoff, with a timestamped, per-purchase record retained — and a lawyer must confirm that this still satisfies Art. 16(m)(i) and (ii), given that the contract is formed at the MoR's checkout.
Who is the "trader" for Art. 16(m) purposes when a Merchant of Record is the seller of record. If Link is the trader, the consent and acknowledgement arguably have to be obtained by them, and our own pre-checkout capture may not be sufficient on its own.
That the confirmation email under 2.6 is sent by whoever the trader is, and reaches the consumer without requiring a login (Art. 8(7); Content Services C-49/11 on durable media).
Whether the button label in 2.5 satisfies Art. 8(2) in every language version, if the Site is ever localised.

3. Wording to be shown at checkout

This section is an implementation specification for the checkout, not consumer-facing copy. It is included here so the lawyer can review the exact strings.

3.1. Required elements, in order

#	Element	Requirement
1	Right-of-withdrawal notice	Available and prominent before the payment step, not only in a footer
2	Consent + acknowledgement checkbox	Unticked by default; separate from the terms-acceptance checkbox; a required field
3	Payment button	Labelled with an explicit payment obligation
4	Confirmation email	Sent immediately; repeats consent and acknowledgement

3.2. Checkbox — exact string

☐ I request immediate access to the digital content and I acknowledge that I will lose my right of withdrawal once access begins.

Rules:

Rendered unticked. No pre-selection, no "smart default", no server-side default.
Separate from any "I accept the Terms of Service" checkbox. Do not bundle them into one control; bundled consent is weaker and may be invalid.
Mandatory. The purchase cannot complete without it.
Displayed in full, not behind a "read more" toggle, and in the same size and contrast as surrounding body text.
The record of the tick — value, UTC timestamp, purchase reference, and the version of the notice shown — is stored with the order.

3.3. Payment button — exact string

Buy now — pay $39

Acceptable alternatives: "Order with obligation to pay", "Buy now and pay $39".

Never acceptable: "Submit", "Continue", "Next", "Confirm", "Get access", "Start now", "Complete", or any label that does not disclose the payment obligation.

3.4. Text to appear immediately above the payment button

By ticking the box above you ask us to give you access straight away and you agree that you will lose your 14-day right of withdrawal. If you do not tick the box, we will not give you access until the 14 days have passed. Our voluntary 30-day satisfaction guarantee applies either way — see our Refund Policy.

3.5. If the consumer does not tick the box

The purchase must still be possible. In that case:

(a) access is not granted immediately; (b) access is granted after the 14-day withdrawal period expires, or earlier if the consumer then gives consent and acknowledgement; and (c) the consumer keeps the full statutory right of withdrawal in the meantime.

⚠️ LAWYER: section 3.5 is the honest implementation and matches reg. 30(1) of the UK Regulations, which prohibits supply during the cancellation period without the reg. 37 consent. Confirm whether it is acceptable to instead make the checkbox a hard condition of purchase (i.e. refuse the sale entirely if unticked). Making consent a condition of contracting is common commercially but is arguably a "take it or leave it" consent, and its validity has been questioned. A decision is needed, because the two options require different builds.

3.6. Confirmation email — required content

The confirmation email must contain, at minimum:

Identity of the trader, registered address and contact email.
The main characteristics of the digital content.
The total price paid, including tax.
A statement that the consumer gave prior express consent to immediate performance.
A statement that the consumer acknowledged losing the right of withdrawal as a result.
A link to this notice and to the Refund Policy.
Information about the functionality, interoperability and technical protection measures of the content, including the personalised PDF watermark.
A note that the voluntary 30-day satisfaction guarantee still applies.

4. How to exercise your right of withdrawal

This section applies where you still have the right — see sections 2.3 and 6.

4.1. To withdraw, you must tell us in a clear statement that you have decided to withdraw from the contract. Examples of a clear statement include a letter sent by post, or an email.

4.2. Send it to:

Bit State, MB Šeduvos g. 29-14, Padubysio k., LT-83250 Pakruojo r. Email: hello@assaygrade.com

4.3. You may use the model withdrawal form in section 5, but you do not have to. Any clear statement is enough. You do not have to give a reason.

4.4. You may also send your statement to Link, since Link is the Merchant of Record for your purchase. We will treat a statement sent to either of us as validly given.

4.5. The deadline is met if you send your statement before the 14 days expire. We recommend keeping proof — a sent email is enough.

4.6. We will acknowledge receipt of your withdrawal without delay, on a durable medium.

⚠️ LAWYER: 4.4 is drafted generously on purpose. Confirm whether the MoR arrangement requires the consumer to address the withdrawal to the MoR as the seller of record, and whether accepting it at our address instead creates any problem. Art. 11(1) requires that the trader's contact details be given for this purpose; if the trader is the MoR, the address published here may need to be theirs.

5. Model withdrawal form

Based on Annex I(B) to Directive 2011/83/EU. Complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract. You are not obliged to use it.

MODEL WITHDRAWAL FORM
To: Bit State, MB small partnership (mažoji bendrija), registration number 307056143 Šeduvos g. 29-14, Padubysio k., LT-83250 Pakruojo r. Republic of Lithuania Email: hello@assaygrade.com
I/We () hereby give notice that I/We () withdraw from my/our () contract of sale of the following goods ()/for the provision of the following service (*):
_______________________________________________________________
Ordered on ()/received on ():
_______________________________________________________________
Order or receipt number (if known):
_______________________________________________________________
Name of consumer(s):
_______________________________________________________________
Address of consumer(s):
_______________________________________________________________
Email address used at purchase:
_______________________________________________________________
Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper):
_______________________________________________________________
Date:
_______________________________________________________________
(*) Delete as appropriate.

5.1. An electronic version of this form is available at /withdrawal-form. You can also complete and submit it directly on our website; if you do, we will acknowledge receipt without delay on a durable medium.

⚠️ LAWYER: Art. 11(3) of Directive 2011/83/EU permits, but does not require, an online withdrawal facility — if we offer one, the acknowledgement duty in Art. 11(3) is triggered. Confirm the wording of the model form against the official Annex I(B) text in the relevant national implementations, since some member states publish a prescribed national translation that must be used for consumers in that country.

6. If we failed to obtain your consent and acknowledgement

This section is the consumer's protection, and it is stated plainly on purpose.

6.1. The exception in section 2 only works if all three conditions in 2.2 were met. If any of them was not met, the exception does not apply.

6.2. In that case:

(a) you keep the full 14-day right of withdrawal; (b) you may withdraw for any reason or none; and (c) you bear no cost whatsoever for the digital content you received during the withdrawal period. You do not pay for what you read, downloaded, or used. You get a full refund.

6.3. This reflects Article 14(4)(b) of Directive 2011/83/EU and regulation 37(2) of the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. Specifically, you bear no cost if:

(i) you did not give prior express consent to performance beginning before the end of the withdrawal period; or (ii) you gave that consent but did not acknowledge that you would lose your right of withdrawal; or (iii) we failed to provide confirmation of the contract on a durable medium, including confirmation of your consent and acknowledgement.

6.4. We are not going to argue about this. If you tell us the mechanism was not shown to you properly, and our own records do not clearly show otherwise, we will treat your right of withdrawal as intact and refund you in full. Our records of what you were shown and when are our responsibility, not yours.

6.5. If we made the failure, we may also have failed our pre-contractual information duties, which can extend your withdrawal period by up to 12 months under Article 10 of Directive 2011/83/EU. In that case the extended period applies.

⚠️ LAWYER: 6.4 is a voluntary evidential concession, drafted to match the brand's positioning. Confirm it does not create an unintended contractual obligation broader than intended, and confirm the interaction with the Art. 10 extension described in 6.5.

7. Effects of withdrawal — refund timing and method

7.1. If you validly withdraw, we will reimburse all payments received from you, including any taxes and any standard delivery costs.

7.2. Timing: we will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which we are informed of your decision to withdraw.

7.3. Method: we will use the same means of payment that you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise.

7.4. You will not incur any fees as a result of the reimbursement. No processing charge, no administration fee, no deduction.

7.5. Refunds are executed by Link as Merchant of Record. We instruct them; they move the money. The 14-day legal deadline still applies to us regardless of their processing time, and we will instruct them promptly enough to meet it. Once Link has issued the refund, how quickly it appears in your account depends on your bank or card issuer.

7.6. Your access ends. On withdrawal, your account is deactivated, your download link stops working, and any community access is removed. Your licence to use the PDF ends. Please delete any copy you downloaded; you must not use, share or redistribute it.

⚠️ LAWYER: confirm the position under Art. 17 of Directive (EU) 2019/770 (obligations of the trader and the consumer after termination — the consumer must refrain from using the digital content and making it available to third parties). Confirm whether 7.6 as drafted is a permitted statement of the consumer's obligation or whether it overreaches.

8. Your other rights are unaffected

8.1. Losing the right of withdrawal does not affect any of your other consumer rights.

8.2. You keep your rights if the Product is faulty, not as described, or not fit for purpose, under Directive (EU) 2019/770 on digital content (EU) or the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (UK). Those rights are not limited to 14 days and cannot be excluded.

8.3. You keep your rights if you were misled about what you were buying, under Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices as implemented in your country.

8.4. Our voluntary 30-day satisfaction guarantee applies in addition. It is broader than the statutory withdrawal right: 30 days instead of 14, available even after you have had full access, available worldwide, and no reason required. See the Refund Policy. In practice, most people will use the guarantee and never need this notice.

8.5. Nothing in this notice limits or excludes any right you have as a consumer that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

9. Contact and complaints

9.1. Withdrawal statements, questions and complaints: hello@assaygrade.com.

9.2. Payment-side issues can also be raised with Link's support.

9.3. If we cannot resolve a complaint, you can refer it to the State Consumer Rights Protection Authority (Valstybinė vartotojų teisių apsaugos tarnyba), the out-of-court dispute resolution body for consumers dealing with a Lithuanian trader. We will take part in its procedure. Contact details: A. Goštauto g. 12, LT-01108 Vilnius, Lithuania; phone +370 5 262 6760; email tarnyba@vvtat.lt; website https://vvtat.lrv.lt/en/. Consumers elsewhere in the EU can also use the European Commission's directory of certified alternative dispute resolution bodies at https://consumer-redress.ec.europa.eu/dispute-resolution-bodies.

Note for the draft — do not publish. The EU ODR platform at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr was closed on 20 July 2025 following the repeal of Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 by Regulation (EU) 2024/3228. Do not reintroduce that link from any template.

Open questions for the lawyer

Can the MoR checkout carry an unticked custom consent checkbox? If not, is consent captured on our own page immediately before handoff sufficient under Art. 16(m)? This is the single most important question in the set.
Who is the "trader" for Arts. 6, 8, 11, 14 and 16 purposes when the MoR is the seller of record, and whose address and contact details must appear in sections 4 and 5?
Should the consent checkbox be a hard condition of purchase (refuse the sale if unticked), or should the deferred-access route in section 3.5 be built?
Confirm the withdrawal period start date in 1.2 for digital content under both Art. 9(2)(a) and UK reg. 30, and the Art. 10 twelve-month extension exposure.
Confirm whether prescribed national-language versions of the model withdrawal form and the standard withdrawal information (Annex I(A) and I(B)) must be used for consumers in particular member states.
Does the confirmation email under 2.6 meet the "durable medium" standard as applied in Content Services (C-49/11), given it is an email rather than a portal document?
Review the evidential concession in 6.4 and the post-withdrawal use restriction in 7.6.
Confirm what records must be retained to prove consent, for how long, and how that sits with data minimisation under the GDPR.