The EU 2-year warranty law: the legal guarantee of conformity

People call it the EU 2-year warranty. The law calls it the legal guarantee of conformity. It comes from Directive (EU) 2019/771, every EU country has it in its own law, and it gives every consumer at least two years of protection against faulty goods, at no cost.

The rule in short

• The seller is liable, not the manufacturer.
• The seller is liable for any lack of conformity that exists at delivery and becomes apparent within at least two years.
• The consumer gets repair or replacement first, free of charge. If that is impossible, fails, or takes too long, the consumer can have a price reduction or end the contract for a refund.
• For a fault that appears in the first year, the law presumes it existed at delivery. The seller must prove otherwise. Some countries extend this to two years.
• It cannot be excluded by the terms of sale.

What “lack of conformity” means

Goods are in conformity when they match the contract and what a consumer can reasonably expect. A product fails that test when it:

• is faulty or breaks under normal use;
• does not match the description, sample or model shown;
• lacks the quality, durability or functions normal for that type of good;
• comes without the accessories, instructions or updates it should have;
• was installed badly by the seller, or with faulty instructions.

The period by country

Directive 2019/771 sets a minimum. Countries can go further, and several do. A summary for some countries, for new goods sold to consumers:

Country	Liability period	Presumption of fault at delivery
Germany	2 years	1 year
France	2 years	2 years (1 year for second-hand goods)
Italy	2 years	1 year
Spain	3 years	2 years
Portugal	3 years	2 years
Sweden	3 years	2 years
Netherlands	No fixed period: the expected lifespan of the good	1 year
Ireland	Claims within 6 years	1 year
Poland	2 years	2 years

Check the national law before you rely on a figure: these are summaries, and the details (second-hand goods, notification rules, limitation periods) differ. The Your Europe guarantees page lists every country.

Legal guarantee, commercial guarantee, warranty

A commercial guarantee (often called a warranty) is a promise a business makes voluntarily, on its own terms: a manufacturer’s warranty, a shop’s extended warranty, a paid protection plan. It comes on top of the legal guarantee and never replaces it. Read legal guarantee vs commercial guarantee.

What changes in 2026

The rights stay the same. What changes is that sellers must tell consumers about them. From 27 September 2026, every seller of goods to EU consumers must show the harmonised legal guarantee notice before purchase, in the consumer’s language, using the official design from Regulation (EU) 2025/1960.

For online shops

1. Honour the legal guarantee for every consumer in the EU, with the period of the consumer’s country where it is longer.
2. Do not describe a commercial warranty as if it were the legal guarantee, and do not sell an extended warranty as cover the consumer already has by law.
3. Show the harmonised notice on each product page. On Shopify, Assay does this in all 24 EU languages; the free plan covers it.