Commercial guarantee proposals set to be diluted

Date: 15/02/1996

PLANNED new rules aimed at bolstering the right of consumers to return faulty goods bought in other member states look set to be watered down in the face of stiff opposition from some member states.

The European Commission is expected to dilute its proposal after fierce protests from Germany, the UK and the Netherlands over its plan to introduce EU-wide rules governing commercial guarantees.

Shoppers' statutory rights, which give them a certain degree of protection under the law, vary substantially from one member state to another.

Manufacturers or shopkeepers may choose to top up those rights by offering commercial guarantees granting, or claiming to grant, further protection to customers in order to encourage them to buy.

Those opposed to introducing EU-wide rules on commercial guarantees argue they are unnecessary and would be bad for business. They insist that the Commission should concern itself only with harmonising statutory rights, and should not tinker with commercial guarantees, which they say form part of a company's marketing strategy.

DGXXIV, the Directorate-General for consumer affairs, now seems likely to take that argument on board and exclude commercial guarantees from the scope of its latest draft law.

But consumer groups have greeted this development with dismay, insisting that commercial guarantees are often used to trick customers into purchasing products and therefore need to be regulated.

“We do not want to say to businesses: you must provide this or that commercial guarantee. We simply want to make sure that, for instance, consumers are not led to believe that they are getting additional protection when in fact they are not,” explains Caroline Kerstiëns of the consumer organisation BEUC.

“We are afraid that the directive will not come out at all, or will emerge so weakened that it will not mean anything.”

The Commission also plans to remove references to after-sales services from the directive and avoid tackling the thorny issue of compensation for delivery delays.

The proposal, if approved by EU consumer ministers and MEPs, would grant consumers the statutory right to return any goods which do not meet their reasonable expectations and to get their money back, or be given replacement products in compensation.

Clients would be entitled to free repair of faulty goods, or partial refunds if they decided to keep them, for a period of up to two years after the items were purchased.

Shopkeepers would be responsible for any defective products sold on their premises, although disgruntled customers would be free to take their complaints straight to the manufacturer if they deemed it easier than going back to the vendor.

The Commission hopes that, notwithstanding its dilution, the directive will boost consumers' confidence in products bought abroad and so encourage cross-border shopping.

A second draft of the directive is expected to reach the Commission in the coming weeks, but given the controversy surrounding it and the intensity of lobbying efforts, this is not guaranteed.