How Can a Dealer's Liability Outlast the Factory Warranty?

Key Takeaways

• A dealer's liability can outlast the factory warranty because one is statute and the other is a voluntary promise.

• EU law makes the seller liable for defects appearing within two years of delivery, and national law can extend that.

• For sales contracts from 31 July 2026, EU law requires Member States to add 12 months once after a repair.

• The Netherlands fixes no term, and Iceland allows five years for goods meant to last substantially longer.

• Belgium and Poland presume for two full years that a defect was present at delivery.

• The seller's right of redress exists in EU law, but national law and the supply contract set its reach.

A factory warranty is a document a manufacturer writes. A dealer's liability to a private customer is written by a national parliament. At Wood Architects we assemble and check each sauna at our facility in Klaipėda before it ships. That check can't shorten a statutory period by a single day.

How Can a Dealer's Liability Outlast the Factory Warranty?

A dealer's liability can outlast the factory warranty because the two rest on different foundations. The factory warranty is a commercial guarantee, a voluntary promise with an end date. The dealer's liability is the statutory duty a seller owes a consumer when goods don't conform to the contract. Under Article 10 of Directive (EU) 2019/771 it covers defects that existed at delivery and show up within two years. Member States may set longer limits, and a contract term can't cut it in advance. The warranty card can expire while the law still points at you.

What separates a legal guarantee from a factory warranty?

The legal guarantee isn't a document. It's the seller's liability for goods that don't conform to the contract. The directive applies it to sales between a consumer and a seller. If your name is on the customer's invoice, the seller is you.

A factory warranty is a commercial guarantee. Article 2 defines it as an undertaking by the seller or a producer, given in addition to the seller's legal obligation. Article 17 makes it binding on whoever gave it.

Article 17 also sets the content of the guarantee statement. It must tell the consumer that they have legal remedies against the seller, free of charge, and that the commercial guarantee doesn't affect them. A correctly written warranty card says your liability is untouched.

The warranty has an author. The legal guarantee has a legislator.

Why can't your terms shorten the legal period to match the warranty?

Article 21 of the directive closes that door. A contract term that excludes or varies the consumer's legal rights to their detriment, agreed before the defect is reported, isn't binding on the consumer.

The EU's own portal, Your Europe, says a commercial guarantee can never exclude or reduce rights under the minimum two-year guarantee. A line in your terms saying "guarantee as per manufacturer" shortens nothing.

Where does the seller's liability run longer than two years?

Two years is the floor in Article 10, and paragraph 3 lets Member States go higher. The table shows the periods as they stood in the primary sources on 7 October 2026.

The newest change is the repair rule. Directive (EU) 2024/1799 added paragraph 2a to Article 10: where a defect is remedied by repair, the liability period is extended once by 12 months. Member States must apply it to sales contracts concluded from 31 July 2026.

A directive works through national law, and not every country met that date. Belgium wrote the rule into Article 1649quater by a law published on 23 September 2026, in force since 3 October 2026. Check the national text before you count the extra year.

Run the numbers at the EU minimum. The legal period is 24 months. A repair in month 20 adds 12, so it ends at month 36. A commercial warranty of, say, 24 months would have ended a year earlier.

That last year sits with the seller unless the supply contract or national redress law says otherwise.

The Netherlands has no number at all. ACM ConsuWijzer, the regulator's consumer desk, says the legal guarantee lasts as long as a buyer may expect the product to last. It estimates at least 8 years for a €400 washing machine.

Iceland draws the line by durability: two years, or five where the item is meant to last substantially longer. Article 27 of Act No. 48/2003 names no product groups, so it doesn't say where an outdoor sauna falls.

We'd take five years as the planning figure. That's a manufacturer's assumption, not a legal finding, so have a lawyer in Iceland confirm it. Consumer disputes there go to the complaints committee for goods and services, Kærunefnd vöru- og þjónustukaupa.

That's how a dealer's liability can outlast the factory warranty.

Who has to prove the defect, and for how long?

For the first year, the seller does. Article 11 presumes that a defect appearing within one year of delivery was already there at delivery, unless the seller proves otherwise. Member States may stretch that year to two. Belgium and Poland did.

Recital 45 explains how. During the presumption period the consumer only has to show that the sauna isn't in conformity. You have to prove the fault wasn't there on delivery day.

That's a question of records, and it's the one part of this where a factory is useful. Ask any supplier for the dated inspection record of your unit, and add your own photographs at handover. Without them you have little to set against the presumption.

What is the dealer's right of redress, and how far does it go?

Article 18 covers the case where you're liable to a consumer for a defect caused by someone earlier in the chain. You're entitled to pursue remedies against that person, and national law sets the details. Recital 63 adds that freedom of contract between seller and supplier stays untouched.

Some national laws go further than Article 18. In Belgium, Article 1649sexies of the old Civil Code lets the seller rely on the upstream party's contractual liability. A clause limiting or excluding that liability can't be raised against the seller.

In the Netherlands, Article 7:25 gives the seller a damages claim against its own supplier and bars any departure to the seller's detriment. The claim fails where the defect arose after the goods reached the seller, or where the seller knew of it or should have.

Whether those rules reach a supply contract governed by another country's law is a question for a lawyer. That's why the governing law belongs in the contract. Belgium's rules move into Book 7 of its Civil Code on 1 September 2027.

What should you agree in writing with the manufacturer before the first sale?

Six points. Each closes a gap the law leaves open. The square brackets are yours to fill in.

• "The manufacturer answers to the dealer for defects present at handover for [number] months, counted from [date]."

• "Where a repair extends the consumer's legal period, the manufacturer's period [is or is not] extended to match."

• "For a confirmed defect, the costs are borne as follows: parts by [party], labour by [party], travel by [party], removal and reinstallation by [party]."

• "The dealer reports a defect within [number] days, with serial number, photographs and the consumer's complaint date."

• "The manufacturer supplies the inspection record for each unit. The dealer keeps a dated handover record."

• "This contract is governed by the law of [country]. Disputes go to [court or arbitration]."

The numbers behind the first line are worked through in Who Pays When Your Customer's Sauna Fails in Year Three?

Towards your customer the law has already settled the third line. Repair must be free of charge, and the directive counts postage, carriage, labour and materials within that. What stays open is who pays behind you.

You don't need a lawyer to start. Put the warranty card and your own terms of sale side by side, and mark every date on both. Then look up the rule for the country you sell in. Where the dates don't meet, you carry that stretch alone.

This article explains rules. It isn't legal advice. For a specific case, ask the consumer authority in the country you sell in, or a lawyer there.

Frequently asked questions

Does the legal guarantee apply when you sell a sauna to a business?

No. Directive (EU) 2019/771 applies to sales contracts between a consumer and a seller. A consumer is a natural person acting outside their trade or profession. A sale to a hotel or another company falls outside it, so the contract and national law decide.

Can your customer claim directly against the sauna manufacturer?

Directive (EU) 2019/771 leaves that to national law, with one exception. A producer that gives a commercial guarantee of durability is directly liable to the consumer for repair or replacement during that guarantee. In Iceland, Article 35 of Act No. 48/2003 lets a consumer claim against an earlier seller.

Does a repair restart the legal guarantee period?

Not under the directive, which extends it instead. For sales contracts concluded from 31 July 2026, Directive (EU) 2024/1799 has Member States add 12 months once when a defect is remedied by repair. Before the remedy, the seller must tell the consumer about that extension. National law may also suspend or interrupt the period.

Does Switzerland follow the EU two-year rule?

Switzerland applies its own Code of Obligations. Under Article 210, warranty claims prescribe two years after delivery. A professional seller can't contract that below two years on new goods bought for personal or family use. Article 201 requires the buyer to inspect the goods and report defects without delay.

Is a dealer's legal guarantee the same as product liability?

No. The legal guarantee concerns goods that don't conform to the sales contract, and it runs between seller and consumer. Product liability concerns compensation for damage caused by a defective product. The December 2026 changes are covered in Which EU Liability Rules Apply to Your Sauna After 8 December 2026?