Sale of Consumer Goods and Associated Guarantees

This Directive is concerned with the legal guarantee and commercial guarantees.

The concept of the legal guarantee includes all legal protection given to the consumer by the Law (statutory rights). The Directive concerns the principle of the conformity of the product with the contract.

A commercial guarantee expresses the will of one person, the guarantor, who assumes personal liability for certain defects. The guarantee offers an additional undertaking given by a seller or producer, over and above the legal rules governing the sale of consumer goods, to reimburse the price paid, to exchange, repair or handle a product in any way, in the event that the product does not conform to the contract.  In other words in addition to your usual legal rights, you can also claim against the issuer of a guarantee or warranty.

There are some exceptions to the Directive these are:

• Goods sold by way of execution or otherwise by authority of law,
• Water and gas where they are not put up for sale in a limited volume or set quantity,
• Electricity

The Directive also allows for Member States to exclude, second-hand goods sold at public auction where consumers have the opportunity of attending the sale in person.

Consumer goods must be in conformity with the contract of sale. Goods are deemed to be in conformity with the contract if, at the moment of delivery to the consumer:

• They comply with the description given by the seller and possess the qualities of the product, which the seller has held out to the consumer as a sample or model.
• They are fit for their purpose
• They are fit for any particular purpose which was made known to the seller at the time of conclusion of the contract, and accepted by the seller;
• Their quality and performance are satisfactory, given the nature of the goods and taking into account the public statements made about them by the seller, the producer or his representative.

The seller is liable to the consumer for any lack of conformity which exists when the goods are delivered to the consumer and which becomes apparent within a period of two years (within the UK the Limitations Act 1980 allows a consumer to claim for up to 6 years after the date of purchase) unless, the consumer was made aware of or could not reasonably be unaware of the lack of conformity prior to the point of contracting.

If the goods do not conform with the public statements made by the producer or their representative, the seller will not be liable if they show that :

• They did not know and could not reasonably know the statement in question;
• They corrected the statement at the time of sale;
• The decision to buy the goods could not have been influenced by the statement.

Any lack of conformity becoming apparent within six months of delivery will be presumed to have existed at the time of delivery, unless:

• Proof to the contrary is furnished;
• This presumption is incompatible with the nature of the goods or the nature of the lack of conformity.

Any lack of conformity resulting from incorrect installation of the consumer goods is deemed to be equivalent to lack of conformity of the goods if installation forms part of the contract of sale of the goods and the goods were installed by the seller or under their responsibility. This also applies if the product is intended to be installed by the consumer and an incorrect installation is due to failings in the installation instructions.

When a lack of conformity is notified to the seller, the consumer will be entitled to ask:

• for the goods to be repaired or replaced free of charge within a reasonable period and without major inconvenience to the consumer;
• for an appropriate reduction to be made to the price, or for the contract to be rescinded, if repair or replacement is impossible or disproportionate, or if the seller has not remedied the shortcoming within a reasonable period or without major inconvenience to the consumer.

The consumer is not entitled to have the contract rescinded if the lack of conformity is minor.

Any commercial guarantee offered by a seller or producer will be legally binding under the conditions laid down in the guarantee document and the associated advertising. The guarantee must state that the consumer has statutory rights and clearly state that these rights are not affected by the guarantee. The guarantee must then state its content, in simple and understandable terms, and indicate the conditions for claiming under it, notably its duration and territorial scope and the name and address of the guarantor.

 The UK European Consumer Centre has available a free newsletter, “UK ECC – your update”. The aim of the newsletter is to provide you, the consumer, with a flavour of what the UK ECC does, provide examples of cases we have been working on and, more importantly, provide you with the best advice on cross-border shopping.  Please use the link below to subscribe to our newsletter.

home

topics

contact

news

links

help me