Towards a Digital Single Market: Amendments to Consumer Protection Act in 2022

A government proposal (HE 180/2021) for amendments to the Consumer Protection Act was given to Parliament in October 2021. The amendments are scheduled to enter into force on 1 January 2022. This bulletin looks at the amendments arising from the Sale of Goods Directive.

From Sale of Consumer Goods to Sale of Goods

The transposition of the Sale of Goods Directive requires amendments to chapter 5 of the Consumer Protection Act with respect to the sale of consumers goods, particularly to the provisions concerning the characteristics and defects of goods as well as the sanctions for defects. At the same time the title of the chapter will be changed from ‘Sale of consumer goods’ to ‘Sale of goods’.

As things currently stand, the main reforms to the sale of goods will be the following:

Position of Consumers Strengthened, More Care Required of Companies

The reforms have been presented as improving the ability of companies to sell and consumers to buy goods across borders between EU and EEA countries. However, the positive impacts on cross-border trade are undermined by the fact that both directives ultimately allow a great deal of latitude on the national level, and only some of the provisions are harmonised.

In the sale of goods, the position of consumers in relation to seller companies will improve, at least to some extent, and companies may correspondingly be held responsible for defective goods more often. The more uniform sale of goods provisions that have been proposed will be particularly significant to companies engaging in e-commerce. In particular, the new provisions concerning the sale of goods with digital elements will require companies to exercise care.

It would be wise for companies to start reviewing their terms and conditions and guarantee terms in light of the new legislation if they have not already done so. For instance, the longer defect assumption period means that companies will no longer be able to offer consumers one-year guarantees as such, because a guarantee must provide genuine added value to consumers.