New rules on consumer guarantees to be agreed

Date: 01/04/1999

By Renée Cordes

CONSUMERS across the EU will get a minimum two-year guarantee on most goods under proposals due to be rubberstamped by consumer ministers later this month.

Following negotiations between Union governments and MEPs, ministers are expected to approve a revised version of the European Commission's 1996 proposal for harmonised rules on shoppers' rights at a meeting on 13 April.

The draft directive lays down uniform conditions under which consumers will be able to seek redress for faulty products in future. It aims to provide a minimum level of protection for consumers, bringing order to the current patchwork of national rules requiring mandatory warranty periods of between six months and six years.

Under the latest version of the text, those governments with longer mandatory guarantees would be be able to go on imposing stricter national standards.