No free choice by the language selection of GTCs

The Regional Court Berlin decided that companies cannot choose the language of their General Terms and Conditions (GTCs) by themselves (Judgment dated 9 May 2014; Case No.: 15 O 44/13) Background of the Case and Subject Matter WhatsApp Inc. is the owner of the famous WhatsApp Messenger. This is a cross-platform mobile messaging app which allows you to exchange messages without having to pay anything. Their website can be called in over thirty languages, one of them is German. However, the GTCs are always only available in English. The Federation of German Consumer Organization requested that WhatsApp Inc. must offer the GTCs in German to fulfill their information duties. Decision The Regional Court Berlin decided that every company has to offer a reasonable option for the consumer to take note of the GTCs. Not everybody in Germany has the capability to understand written GTCs in English. Therefore, the consumers cannot really take note of them and understand the content. As a result of that the GTCs of companies always have to be in German if they offer goods and services in Germany. Accordingly, WhatsApp Inc. has to offer a German translation of their GTCs in the future.