On 1 January 2021, two new laws will enter into force, which will change the legal framework for warranty and guarantee claims concerning certain consumer goods. We provide a brief summary of the amendment of the Government Decree on mandatory commercial guarantee on consumer durables and the Rules of procedure for handling warranty and guarantee claims that will be applicable from next year.
The most important change affects the guarantee period. Instead of the one-year period which generally applies to consumer durables currently, different guarantee periods will apply from 1st January 2021, depending on the selling price of the product:
- one year in case of a selling price reaching HUF 10,000 but not exceeding HUF 100,000,
- two years in case of a selling price exceeding HUF 100,000 but not exceeding HUF 250,000,
- three years in case of a selling price over HUF 250,000.
As a general rule, the starting date of the guarantee period remains the date of delivery of the consumer product to the consumer or, if the installation is carried out by the business or its agent, the date of installation. However, if the installation of the product will be requested by the consumer beyond 6 months following the delivery, the starting date of the guarantee period will be the day of delivery of the consumer product.
From 1st January, a guarantee document may be provided also in electronic form to the consumer, on condition that its content complies with the general requirements of guarantee documents. The business must deliver the guarantee document electronically on the day following the delivery or installation of the product. In case of any dispute between the consumer and the business regarding the delivery of the electronic guarantee document, the business must prove that it was provided to the consumer. The electronic guarantee document shall be provided with an electronical signature by the business.
One of the facilitations of enforcing claims from mandatory commercial guarantee is that businesses may not prescribe that the consumer must return the product together with its packaging as a condition of the execution of guarantee claims.
With regard to the enforcement of a claim for repair, the law specifies that the consumer may choose to enforce this claim at the registered office or any of the premises or branches of the business or directly at the repair service indicated by the business on the guarantee document.
It is a new rule that in some cases the business, instead of repairing, shall replace the consumer durables specified in the decree, unless otherwise provided by the consumer (or, if the replacement is not possible, reimburse the purchase price). Such cases are:
- if it is established by the business during the first repair of a consumer product that the consumer product cannot be repaired,
- if the consumer product becomes defective during the guarantee period again after it has been repaired three times, or
- if the consumer product is not repaired within thirty days of the communication following the repair request sent to the business.
In addition, the amendment extends the scope of the mandatory commercial guarantee to consumer durables such as shower cabins, bathtubs, faucets, doors and windows, shading devices, entry-phones, solar collectors or solar panels.
Both in case of warranty claims and mandatory commercial guarantee claims, effective from 1 January 2021, the business shall carry out the repair or replacement within a maximum of 15 days. If this exceeds 15 days, the business will be obliged to inform the consumer of the expected duration.
If the consumer enforces the claim for repair directly at the repair service indicated by the business on the guarantee document, the repair service shall:
- notify the business of the repair of the product in a verifiable manner within five working days;
- inform the business in a verifiable manner within five working days:
- if it is established during the first repair of a consumer product that the consumer product cannot be repaired,
- the expected time of repair, if the repair of consumer product is expected to take more than fifteen days, or
- if the consumer product cannot be not repaired within thirty days.