The e-commerce seller's guide
Legal guarantee of conformity: your obligations as a seller
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A customer tells you that a product bought from you is faulty? As a seller, you must repair or replace it free of charge. The legal guarantee of conformity is harmonised across the whole EU (Directive (EU) 2019/771): every professional seller answers for a good's lack of conformity for 2 years from delivery, in each Member State. It has applied since 1 January 2022 across the EU to any sale of goods (and now to digital content and services), online as well as in-store. It is mandatory, free for the consumer, and you can neither exclude nor restrict it.
What the legal guarantee of conformity imposes on the seller
As a seller, you are liable for any lack of conformity in the good you deliver. In concrete terms, the law (Directive (EU) 2019/771, as transposed in each Member State) imposes several obligations on you.
- •Answer for defects for 2 years. You are liable for any lack of conformity that appears within a period of two years from the delivery of the good.
- •A presumption of prior existence that falls on you. Any defect that appears during the presumption period (at least one year under Directive (EU) 2019/771, extended to two years in several member states) is presumed to have existed on the day of delivery. The burden of proof falls on you: it is for the seller to show otherwise, not for the consumer to prove the defect.
- •Offer repair or replacement, free of charge. The consumer chooses between repair and replacement (unless the cost is manifestly disproportionate), at no cost. Failing that, they can obtain a price reduction or the rescission of the sale (a refund). If the repair takes more than 30 days, or proves impossible, they can request a refund.
- •Extend the guarantee after restoring conformity. In several member states, any repair or replacement extends the legal guarantee for a further period.
Your duty to inform
This is the most concrete compliance point for an e-commerce seller. Before the contract is concluded, you must inform the consumer of the existence and the terms of application of the legal guarantees (the pre-contractual information duty under Directive 2011/83/EU, art. 6).
In practice, you must:
- →include a dedicated box on the legal guarantees in your terms and conditions of sale ;
- →for goods sold with a commercial guarantee, restate this information on the medium of the commercial guarantee ;
- →present this information before the consumer is bound by the contract.
This obligation is self-standing: even a perfectly good-faith seller, who has never had a single dispute over a faulty product, is in breach if they have not displayed the information on the legal guarantees.
Legal guarantee, commercial guarantee, hidden defects: do not confuse them
Three mechanisms coexist. The legal guarantee of conformity is the only one that is mandatory and that you must always apply. A separate action for latent (hidden) defects, where national law provides one, is a distinct basis, covering hidden defects that make the good unfit for its use.
A separate action for latent (hidden) defects, where national law provides one, is a third basis, which the consumer can invoke independently of the legal guarantee of conformity.
Not to be confused either with the withdrawal right: the guarantee of conformity covers defects in the good, whereas withdrawal lets you cancel a distance sale without a reason within 14 days. See the detailed comparison of withdrawal vs guarantee of conformity.
The risk in the event of a breach
A failure to comply with the duty to inform about the legal guarantees is liable to an administrative penalty imposed by the national regulator (in Ireland, the CCPC). Beyond the fine, failing to honour the legal guarantee itself (refusing a repair or a replacement that is owed, wrongly shifting the burden of proof) exposes you to disputes and to refunds that you could have avoided. Bringing your terms and conditions into compliance is therefore, above all, a preventive measure.
One obligation can hide another
Do not confuse guarantee and withdrawal: two rights, two ways of handling them
The guarantee of conformity covers a faulty or non-conforming product; withdrawal, on the other hand, lets the customer return a product for no reason at all within 14 days. Two distinct rights that your customers invoke separately, and that you must know how to handle, the one as well as the other. Since 19 June 2026, withdrawal moreover goes through a dedicated button: a European obligation (Directive (EU) 2023/2673), enforced in Ireland by the CCPC. BackToMe puts this button in place and archives every request with an acknowledgement of receipt on a durable medium, so that withdrawal does not become, in turn, a dispute.
Read the complete guide to the withdrawal buttonTo go further
Withdrawal vs guarantee of conformity
Two distinct rights: which one applies in your case
The terms-and-conditions clause for the withdrawal button
A standard clause to copy into your terms and conditions
The withdrawal button guide
Everything about the EU obligation, since 19 June 2026
Penalties for non-compliance
Inspections, fines and preventive compliance
This page provides general information and does not replace personalised legal advice. For the exact and up-to-date text of the provisions cited (Directive (EU) 2019/771 on the sale of goods, Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights), refer to EUR-Lex.