Importers should be aware that consumers will have a right to have defective products repaired, further to legislation implementing the EU Directive 2024/1799 on repair of goods that entered into force since 30 July 2024. The EU Member States must implement the new additional obligations into national law by 31 July 2026. In Germany, it is expected that this deadline will be met.
This obligation to repair upon consumer’s request does not only apply in cases where the product was defective at the time the risk passed to the consumer, but also, for example, where a consumer has damaged the product themselves. Thus, the right to repair exists independently outside the seller's contractual liability under statutory warranty provisions.
Companies introducing such products from outside the EU, i.e. importers, should consider in their business case that they may be subject to repair obligations: the right to repair will apply to the product irrespective of its origin and therefore to the company commercialising the product in an EU-country s. The directive establishes a special liability system:
Each of these parties may subcontract repair services to fulfil their obligation to repair.
Any obligated party must make information about its repair services available to consumers free of charge (at least for the duration of the repair obligation) in a clear, easily accessible, and comprehensible manner. Repairers shall be found by consumers easily through a new online European Repair Platform, which is expected to become operational in 2027.
The obligation to repair applies to the products listed in the implementing regulations under the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125:
