The 2026 EU guarantee rules: what every online store must do

From 27 September 2026, online stores selling to EU consumers must display a harmonised legal‑guarantee notice — and, for many products, a durability label — right on the product page. Here's what the new rules require, who they affect, and how to be ready.

What's changing, and why

The EU's “Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition” Directive (EU) 2024/825 updates consumer law to fight greenwashing and make product guarantees clearer. Its practical detail lives in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960, which defines the exact graphics traders must show and how. The goal is simple: shoppers should be able to see, at a glance and in their own language, that every product sold in the EU carries a legal guarantee — and how long a product is designed to last.

The two things you must show

1. The harmonised legal‑guarantee notice (Annex I)

Every EU consumer already has a legal guarantee of conformity of at least two years. What's new is that stores must present this information using an official, harmonised notice — a fixed graphic you may not restyle — shown in the consumer's language. It explains the shopper's rights (free repair or replacement, and in some cases a price reduction or refund) and carries a QR code to the EU's “Your Europe” portal.

2. The durability label (Annex II)

When a producer offers a commercial guarantee of durability longer than two years, free of charge and covering the whole product, the store must display the harmonised durability label (the “GARAN” mark). Unlike the notice, this label is language‑neutral and carries editable fields — the number of years, and the brand and model it applies to.

In short: the legal‑guarantee notice is (almost) always shown; the durability label appears whenever a qualifying long‑term guarantee exists.

Who is affected

• Any trader selling goods to EU consumers online — regardless of where the business is based.
• Marketplaces and individual stores alike, across most consumer goods (with limited exceptions such as food).
• Stores on WooCommerce, Shopify and other platforms — the obligation is about what the customer sees, not which software you run.

The deadline that matters

The rules apply from 27 September 2026. That may sound far off, but the graphics must be correct, current, and shown in the right language for every market you sell to — 24 official EU languages in total. Getting this right manually, and keeping it right as products change, is exactly the kind of task that quietly slips.

Two ways to comply

Do it manually. You can download the official graphics, translate and place them yourself, and maintain them product by product. It's possible — but it's ongoing work, and mistakes (wrong language, altered graphics, missing label) undermine the whole point.

Automate it. A dedicated plugin can render the correct official notice and durability label on every product page, in the shopper's language, without you touching a pixel — and update automatically as the rules or your catalogue evolve.

How WarrantyARK Connect helps

WarrantyARK Connect installs in your WooCommerce store in minutes and:

• Shows the official Annex I notice in the correct one of 24 EU languages, using the unaltered EU graphics.
• Adds the durability “GARAN” label where it applies, filling in the years, brand and model automatically.
• Keeps the display compact and on‑brand — a tidy expandable panel, not a wall of legal text.
• Goes further than compliance: at checkout it lets each buyer save their purchase into the free WarrantyARK app with one tap — turning a legal duty into repeat‑customer loyalty.

A Shopify version is on the way, so the same compliance follows you across platforms.

This article is general information, not legal advice. For how the rules apply to your specific business, consult the official texts of Directive (EU) 2024/825 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960, or a qualified adviser.

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