keyboard_tab Contratti di vendita di beni conformi 2019/0771 EN

(3) Certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods should be harmonised, taking as a base a high level of consumer protection, in order to achieve a genuine digital single market, increase legal certainty and reduce transaction costs, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs’).

(18) This Directive should not affect national law to the extent that the matters concerned are not regulated by this Directive, in particular with regard to the legality of the goods, damages and general contract law aspects such as the formation, validity, nullity or effects of contracts.

  The same should apply in relation to the consequences of the termination of the contract and to certain aspects regarding repair and replacement that are not regulated in this Directive.

  When regulating the rights of parties to withhold the performance of their obligations or part thereof until the other party performs its obligations, Member States should remain free to regulate the conditions and modalities regarding the withholding of payment of the price by the consumer.

  Member States should also remain free to regulate the consumer's entitlement to compensation for damage suffered as a consequence of an infringement by the seller of this Directive.

  This Directive should also not affect national rules that do not specifically concern consumer contracts and provide for specific remedies for certain types of defects that were not apparent at the time of conclusion of the sales_contract, namely national provisions which may lay down specific rules for the seller's liability for hidden defects.

  This Directive should also not affect national laws providing for non-contractual remedies for the consumer, in the event of lack of conformity of goods, against persons in previous links of the chain of transactions, for example manufacturers, or other persons that fulfil the obligations of such persons.

(43) As regards certain aspects, different treatment of second-hand goods could be justifiable.

  Although a liability or limitation period of two years or more usually reconciles the interests of both the seller and the consumer, this might not be the case with regard to second-hand goods.

  Member States should, therefore, be allowed to enable the parties to agree on a shortened liability or limitation period for such goods.

  Leaving this question to a contractual agreement between the parties increases contractual freedom and ensures that the consumer has to be informed both about the nature of the good as a second-hand good, and the shortened liability or limitation period.

  However, such a contractually agreed period should not be shorter than one year.

(62) In order to ensure that there is transparency, certain requirements as regards commercial_guarantees should be provided, alongside the pre-contractual information requirements on the existence and conditions of commercial_guarantees set out in Directive 2011/83/EU.

  Moreover, in order to improve legal certainty and to avoid consumers being misled, this Directive should provide that, where commercial_guarantee conditions contained in associated advertisements are more favourable to the consumer than those included in the guarantee statement, the more advantageous conditions should prevail.

  Finally, this Directive should provide rules on the content of the guarantee statement and on the way it should be made available to consumers.

  For instance, the guarantee statement should include the terms of the commercial_guarantee and state that the legal guarantee of conformity is unaffected by the commercial_guarantee, making it clear that the commercial_guarantee terms constitute an undertaking that is additional to the legal guarantee of conformity.

  Member States should be free to lay down rules on other aspects of commercial_guarantees not covered by this Directive, for example on associating debtors other than the guarantor with the commercial_guarantee, provided that those rules do not deprive consumers of the protection afforded to them by the fully harmonised provisions of this Directive on commercial_guarantees.

  While Member States should remain free to require that commercial_guarantees be provided free_of_charge, they should ensure that any undertaking by the seller or the producer which falls under the definition of commercial_guarantees as set out in this Directive complies with the harmonised rules of this Directive.