ARTICULO EVERSHEDS. AMPLIACIÓN PLAZOS OBLIGATORIOS DE GARANTÍA LEGAL Y DISPONIBILIDAD DE REPUESTOS
Regarding legal guarantees to the consumer of products and availability of spare parts, the European Directive (EU) 2019/771 of 20 May 2019 (1), on certain aspects of contracts for the sale of goods, imposed on Member States the obligation to extend several deadlines over a certain period of time. Under the Directive, Member States were required to adopt and publish compliance measures by 1 July 2021, to be applied from 1 January 2022.
In order to comply with said Directive and in a rather surprising way, on 27 April, the Royal Decree-Law 7/2021, of 27 April, was published in the Spanish Official Gazette, transposing European Union directives in the areas of competition, prevention of money laundering, credit institutions, telecommunications, tax measures, prevention and repair of environmental damage, posting of workers in the provision of transnational services and consumer protection (2).
This Royal Decree-Law, which covers a wide range of very diverse and different matters, alters the existing system of consumer guarantees and availability of spare parts, by incorporating the aforementioned Directive into the Spanish legal system, significantly modifying the term of legal guarantees and the legislative text that regulated them, i.e. Royal Legislative Decree 1/2007, of November 16, which approves the revised text of the General Law for the Defense of Consumers and Users and other complementary laws(3).
To date, according to the Royal Decree, the legal guarantee that the distributor/manufacturer had to grant to the consumer was of two years for new products and one year for second-hand products.
In addition, it established the mandatory availability of spare parts for a period of 5 years after the product ceases to be manufactured, with the subsequent obligation to maintain the necessary stock to cover the possible demand.
In case of possible defects or lack of conformity of the product sold, the consumer had up to 3 years to exercise actions for the defence of his rights, with a presumption in favor of the consumer that automatically if the defect or failure occurs during the first six months of the purchase, it is the manufacturer or seller who has to prove the non-existence of the defect or lack of conformity at the origin.
All this is modified due to this new Royal Decree-Law and the scenario as of 1 January 2022 will be as shown in the following comparison:
The above implies an evident extension of guarantee periods with greater consumer protection, but with the unavoidable consequence for the manufacturer and/or seller to review its commercial strategy, the need for services (stock increases, expertise, ....) and its contractual obligations with third parties (workshops, distributors, suppliers, dealers, etc...) in order to comply with the new legal requirements regarding guarantees and availability of spare parts by January 1, 2022, avoiding and/or minimizing the risks of penalties and fines.
