Oh, dear consumer…! The new rules of commercial guarantee for consumer durables

Guest author:
Dr. Judit Firniksz
senior lawyer
Réti, Várszegi és Társai
Ügyvédi Iroda
PwC Legal

Recently retailers have had to modify their ‘General Terms and Conditions’ (ÁSZF) and internal processes because of the new rules in the commercial guarantee for consumer durables. They are obliged to inform consumers about the updated conditions of commercial guarantee clearly and understandably. The new regulations stipulate that from 1 January 2021 not only the ÁSZF and the consumer complaint rules must be modified, but the warranty documents and the fault-finding expert opinion must also be transformed to comply with the new rules. It has to be emphasised that the new guarantee rules must also be applied if the given retailer hasn’t updated the relevant documents.

Dr. László Szűcs
lawyer, office member
Réti, Várszegi és Társai
Ügyvédi Iroda
PwC Legal

On a contractual basis, retailers have remained entitled to offer a more comprehensive guarantee than the law requires, and they also have the right to do this in return for a fee. In such cases consumers must be informed in detail about their guarantee and product responsibility rights. One of the most important changes in the commercial guarantee regulation is the introduction of more time frames: in the past there was a 1-year guarantee period, but now – depending on the purchasing price of the product – 2- and 3-year guarantees also exist. The latter become mandatory if the consumer purchases the product for more than HUF 250,000.

The new regulation is practically as detailed as a manual when it comes to the procedure that must be followed if there is a guarantee case. First and foremost the priority is repairing the faulty product. It is a new rule that if repairing is impossible, the product must be replaced with a similar one. If this can’t be done for some reason, then the price of the product must be paid back to the consumer. Formerly many retailers only made it possible for consumers to practice their commercial guarantee rights if they returned the product in its original packaging. There were several consumer complaints about this, so the new rules state that such rights can be practiced without having to present the original packaging.

The regulation that determines the warranty procedure largely resembles a manual

The law also defines the mandatory elements of the certificate of warranty. What is more, the new regulation also governs e-commerce: online retailers can now send the certificate of warranty (with their e-signature on it) to the consumer via e-mail on the day of the delivery (or within 24 hours after it). Due to the introduction of the new rules, retailers selling consumer durables now have more obligations than before. The regulation reflects on the most frequent consumer complaints of recent years, and has created a more standard and predictable regulatory environment, which can entail a decrease in the number of complaints in the long run. //