Short answer: yes. From 27 September 2026, any store selling goods to EU consumers must disclose a harmonised legal‑guarantee notice before the sale — on the product page, in the shopper's language. It is not a nice‑to‑have; it is a legal information duty, and failing to meet it can expose you to enforcement and fines of up to 4% of annual turnover. Here is exactly what must be shown, the law behind it, and how to stay on the right side of it.
The short version
The EU has decided that every shopper should be able to see, at the point of purchase and in plain language, that the product they are buying carries a legal guarantee of at least two years. To make this consistent across all 27 member states, the exact wording and design of the notice are now fixed by EU law — you may not restyle or paraphrase it. Where a producer offers a longer commercial guarantee of durability, a separate harmonised label may also appear.
The law behind the obligation
The disclosure duty is not a single rule but a chain of connected EU legislation. Understanding the chain helps you see why it is genuinely mandatory:
| Sale of Goods Directive (EU) 2019/771 | Gives every EU consumer a legal guarantee of conformity of at least two years. This is the underlying right the notice informs people about. |
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| Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU | Requires traders to give consumers clear pre‑contractual information — including on the legal guarantee and any commercial guarantees — before they are bound by the purchase. |
| "Empowering Consumers" Directive (EU) 2024/825 | Amends the directives above and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive to introduce the harmonised guarantee notice and durability label as new information tools. |
| Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960 | Of 25 September 2025 — fixes the exact design and content of the harmonised notice and the "GARAN" durability label. This is the graphic you must show, unaltered. |
What exactly must be disclosed
1. The harmonised legal‑guarantee notice — mandatory
This is the part that is compulsory. Traders must present the official, harmonised notice informing the consumer of their legal guarantee of conformity — a fixed graphic shown in the consumer's language, explaining the rights to repair, replacement, price reduction or refund, with a QR code to the EU's "Your Europe" portal. It is a pre‑contractual information tool: it belongs where the customer decides to buy, i.e. on the product page.
2. The durability "GARAN" label — voluntary, but standardised when used
Displaying a commercial guarantee of durability is voluntary — no producer is forced to offer one. But when a qualifying guarantee exists (longer than the two‑year legal minimum, free of charge, covering the whole product), and you choose to advertise it, you must use the harmonised label with its editable fields (years, brand, model). You cannot invent your own durability badge.
Rule of thumb: the legal‑guarantee notice is a duty you must meet; the durability label is an advantage you may claim — using the official design.
Who has to comply
- Any trader selling goods to EU consumers — including sellers based outside the EU who ship into it.
- Online stores and marketplaces across most consumer goods (with limited exceptions such as food and living plants).
- The obligation is platform‑neutral — WooCommerce, Shopify or custom — because it is about what the customer is shown, not the software behind it.
The dates that matter
| 27 March 2026 | Deadline for member states to transpose Directive (EU) 2024/825 into national law. |
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| 27 September 2026 | The rules apply — the harmonised notice becomes mandatory for B2C sales across the EU. This covers existing catalogues, not just new listings. |
What happens if you don't comply
Because the "Empowering Consumers" Directive works through the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, an omission of required guarantee information can be treated as a misleading practice. Enforcement sits with national consumer‑protection authorities, who can order corrections, issue injunctions, and impose fines. For serious, cross‑border infringements the framework allows penalties of up to at least 4% of a trader's annual turnover in the member states concerned. Beyond fines, the reputational cost of being named in a consumer‑protection action is its own penalty.
How to comply without the headache
Manually. You can download the official EU graphics, translate the notice into each market's language, place it on every product page, and keep it correct as your catalogue and the guidance evolve. It is doable — but it is continuous work, and the common failure modes (wrong language, altered graphic, missing label) defeat the purpose.
Automatically. A dedicated plugin renders the correct official notice — and the durability label where it applies — on every product page, in the shopper's language, without you editing a pixel, and updates itself as the rules change.
How WarrantyARK Connect helps
WarrantyARK Connect installs in your WooCommerce store in minutes and:
- Shows the official harmonised legal‑guarantee notice in the correct one of 24 EU languages, using the unaltered EU graphic.
- Adds the "GARAN" durability label where it applies, filling in years, brand and model automatically.
- Keeps the display compact and on‑brand — a tidy expandable panel, not a wall of legal text.
- Turns the duty into loyalty: at checkout, each buyer can save the purchase into the free WarrantyARK app in one tap.
A Shopify version is on the way, so the same compliance follows you across platforms.
Be ready well before 27 September 2026
Install WarrantyARK Connect and make your store EU‑compliant in minutes.
Get the plugin →This article is general information, not legal advice. Penalty ceilings and enforcement depend on national transposition and the specifics of each case. For how the rules apply to your business, consult the official texts of Directive (EU) 2024/825, Directive 2011/83/EU, Directive (EU) 2019/771 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960, or a qualified adviser.
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