Spain approves extending the mandatory guarantee of products from 2 to 3 years

Spain increases the guarantee of the products. Of the current two mandatory years it will go to a legal guarantee of three years. This was approved today by the Council of Ministers, which has also agreed to increase the minimum time that manufacturers must provide at the repair level. Instead of the current five years, companies must have spare parts for at least 10 years of products that are no longer sold, which will facilitate their repair despite the fact that the product is old.

The new measure is contained in a Royal Decree-Law omnibus, which will also include new rights and guarantees for users in the face of the boom in online commerce, in line with what is proposed by the European Union, which at the end of November approved the so-called ‘right to repair ‘.

Europe approves 'right to repair' and will require manufacturers to offer labeling "clear and visible" about the repairability of your products

The new regulation that extends the guarantee of the products to three years is the transposition of the European regulations and also will apply for the first time on digital content and services, which must offer at least two years warranty. Some content that “does not cost the consumer money but is obtained in exchange for their personal data”, as described by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Products in this category include “computer programs, applications, video files, audio files, music files, digital games, electronic books or other electronic publications.”

The durability of a product is established as an objective criterion. When a product does not have the durability agreed in the purchase contract, the client will have the right to choose between the repair or the replacement of the same. This new regulation extends from three to five years the period for when a customer is not satisfied and goes from six months to one or two years, depending on the object, the period to prove that they are not satisfied with the purchased product.

The main change in this section is that the consumer You will only have to demonstrate that the purchased product is not in accordance with what was agreed, without the need to demonstrate its lack of conformity at the time of delivery, as before. Another change is that the commercial guarantees included in the advertisement will prevail over those in the legal guarantee statement if they are more beneficial to the consumer.

At the moment it is unknown when it will come into force. We will have to wait for its publication in the BOE to know the remaining details of this new regulation that represents a broad improvement of the rights of consumers when buying new products.

In Engadget | Spain announces the repairability index: a new labeling with notes for electronic devices according to how easy they are to repair

Leave a Comment