The EU legal guarantee notice and GARAN label
If you are a seller of consumer goods in the EU, you must inform consumers of their rights through a mandatory harmonised notice that explains their legal guarantee rights.
If you are a producer and choose to offer a voluntary commercial guarantee of durability that goes beyond the legal one, you must use the EU harmonised GARAN label.
The harmonised notice and the EU GARAN label are designed to work together. They point to each other to show the differences between the two types of guarantees given that each can be applied independently of the other.
The harmonised notice
The harmonised notice highlights for consumers the main elements of the legal guarantee of conformity, in particular that every consumer in the EU benefits from at least 2 years of legal guarantee protection for any consumer goods sold in the EU.
The harmonised notice is available in a standard format that you as a seller must display in a prominent manner. This could include:
- on a poster in an eye-catching way on a wall of your shop,
- next to the checkout counter,
- a general reminder on your website if you run an e-commerce site.
The harmonised notice is available in all EU languages and informs consumers about:
- the variable length of the legal guarantee period depending on the EU country,
- common situations where they can make use of their legal guarantee rights,
- the solutions you, as the seller, should provide to them,
- practical steps consumers should take to seek redress,
- a link to further information on guarantees.
Displaying the harmonised notice
The harmonised notice has the following features that cannot be modified:
- a scannable QR code directing consumers to more information on guarantees in their language,
- when printed, it cannot be smaller than A4-sized,
- when displayed in a shop, it can be in colour or black and white,
- when displayed online, it must be in colour.
For more examples and steps for preparing and displaying the harmonised notice, refer to the practical guidelines and download the high-resolution vector files of the harmonised notice in all EU languages.
The EU harmonised GARAN label
The EU harmonised GARAN label represents a commercial guarantee of durability expressed in years. This voluntary commercial guarantee is offered by you as a producer and must be:
- at no additional cost to the consumer,
- covering the entire good,
- with a duration of more than two years.
If the commercial guarantee of durability offered by you meets these conditions, use of the GARAN label is mandatory. This GARAN label represents a commitment that the good will maintain its required functions and performance through normal use for the number of years indicated. Otherwise, you as a producer must repair or replace the good at no cost.
You must list the exact terms that apply to the commercial guarantee of durability
offered, in addition to the legal guarantee. Also called the commercial guarantee statement, it includes:
- a clear statement that the consumer has a legal right to free solutions from the seller if the goods are faulty, and that this right is not affected by the commercial guarantee
- the producer’s name and address,
- the steps the consumer should follow to use the commercial guarantee,
- the goods covered by the commercial guarantee,
- the conditions of the commercial guarantee.
The commercial guarantee statement must be given to the consumer in a durable form they can keep or refer to, such as a paper notice or email, no later than when the goods are delivered.
As a producer, you are also responsible for making all the relevant information on the commercial durability guarantee available to the seller. You can place the GARAN label directly on the good or its packaging.
Warning
As a producer or seller, you can offer other types of commercial guarantees, under the condition this will not confuse consumers with the commercial guarantee of durability through the EU GARAN label. For example, if a durability guarantee only covers part of a product, you cannot use the EU GARAN label. You must clearly tell consumers that the guarantee applies only to that part, not the whole product.Displaying the harmonised label
The EU harmonised GARAN label has the following features that cannot be modified:
- it has a fixed design, including:
- the “GARAN” title,
- a tick mark symbol indicating durability,
- a calendar icon for years,
- a visual reminder to the legal guarantee of conformity,
- a QR code directing to information about the GARAN label in all EU languages,
- when printed, it cannot be smaller than 95 x 100 mm and may be in colour or black and white,
- when used online, it must be in colour, and may use a nested display format, which should be expandable after a first mouse click or mouse roll-over.
If you are a producer, you need to edit the following elements to match the terms of the commercial guarantee of durability you are offering:
- the length of the durability guarantee (in years),
- your brand or trademark,
- the model ID so consumers can easily see which products are covered by the durability guarantee.
If you are a seller, you must clearly display the GARAN label so consumers can easily see which products have a commercial durability guarantee from the producer.
For more examples and practical steps for preparing and displaying the EU harmonised
GARAN label, refer to the practical guidelines and download the high-resolution editable vector files of the multi-lingual harmonised label.
Find out more about legal and commercial guarantees in your country: