# Right to repair: the guarantee must rise to 12 months, France is still at 6 > The right to repair directive requires a 12-month guarantee extension after a repair, since July 2026. The French Consumer Code still says 6 months. What applies today, and what a shop should prepare. - Original page: https://dotsland.com/en/right-to-repair-12-month-guarantee/ - Language: en - Published: 2026-10-30T09:00:00+01:00 - Updated: 2026-10-13T23:24:09+02:00 - Section: Digital Marketing - Publisher: Dotsland, https://dotsland.com/en/ --- ## In brief - Member States were due to apply the EU directive on the right to repair from 31 July 2026. - For a shop, the main change concerns the legal guarantee of conformity: when the customer chooses repair, the guarantee must be extended once by twelve months, and the seller must tell them so before acting. - As of 13 October 2026, the French Consumer Code still provides for a six-month extension: France has not yet transposed this rule. - A directive that has not been transposed does not bind a shop directly in its dealings with a customer: today, French law applies. But the twelve-month rule is coming, and it should be prepared. - The obligation to repair itself covers specific categories, such as washing machines, phones and tablets, and it can pass down to the distributor when there is no authorised representative or importer in the Union. The right to repair first changes the legal guarantee of conformity: Directive 2024/1799 requires the guarantee to be extended by twelve months when the customer chooses repair, to be applied since 31 July 2026. As of 13 October 2026, France has not transposed it: the French Consumer Code still says six months. A shop selling to French consumers therefore applies six months today, and prepares for twelve. > **How we checked** > On 13 October 2026 we read Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on EUR-Lex, Articles 5, 16, 21 and 22 and Annex II, and Article L. 217-13 of the French Consumer Code in its current version on Légifrance. The sources are listed at the end of the article. ## What does the right to repair change for an online shop? The directive has two parts. The first creates an obligation to repair, borne by the manufacturer, for certain categories of goods. The second amends the legal guarantee of conformity, the one every seller owes its customer, to encourage repair rather than replacement. It is this second part that concerns every shop. ## What does the directive say about the legal guarantee? It amends the 2019 Sale of Goods Directive on four points: 1. **Twelve more months**: where repair is the remedy chosen to bring the goods into conformity, the liability period is extended once by twelve months. 2. **Prior information**: before repairing or replacing, the seller informs the consumer of their right to choose between repair and replacement, and of this extension. 3. **Loan of goods**: during the repair, the seller may lend replacement goods free of charge, including refurbished ones. 4. **Refurbished goods**: at the consumer’s express request, the seller may replace the goods with refurbished goods. The directive adds that reparability is one of the qualities a consumer can normally expect of goods, alongside durability and safety. These rules apply to sales contracts concluded from 31 July 2026. ## Where does France stand? As of 13 October 2026, Article L. 217-13 of the French Consumer Code is in its 2021 version: any goods repaired under the legal guarantee of conformity benefit from a six-month extension of that guarantee. It also provides that if the customer chose repair and the seller does not carry it out, replacement starts a new full guarantee. On that date, France had therefore not transposed the twelve-month extension. One important point: a directive is addressed to States, not to businesses. Until it is transposed, a customer cannot rely on the twelve months directly against a shop; it is the Consumer Code, with its six months, that applies. The State, for its part, is late on its obligation. | Rule | French Consumer Code on 13 October 2026 | Directive 2024/1799, to be transposed | | --- | --- | --- | | **Extension after repair** | Six months | Twelve months, once | | **Information before the remedy** | Not provided for by Article L. 217-13 | Choice between repair and replacement, and the extension, before acting | | **Repair chosen but not carried out** | Replacement starts a new guarantee | Not amended by the directive | ## Who must repair, and which products? The first part, the obligation to repair, does not cover all products. It concerns goods subject to EU reparability requirements, listed in the directive’s annex: washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, refrigerating appliances, electronic displays, welding equipment, vacuum cleaners, servers and data storage products, mobile phones, cordless phones and tablets, tumble dryers, and goods incorporating batteries for light means of transport. For these goods, the manufacturer must repair at the consumer’s request, free of charge or for a reasonable price, within a reasonable time. And the chain of responsibility resembles that of other recent EU texts: if the manufacturer is outside the Union, it is its authorised representative; failing that, the importer; and failing an importer, **the distributor**. A shop selling tablets or electric scooters bought directly from outside the Union may therefore inherit the obligation to repair. ## What should you do now? 1. **Apply the current six months correctly**: your after-sales tool must extend the guarantee by six months after a repair under guarantee. Check that it does. 2. **Prepare the move to twelve months**: the guarantee end date must be recalculated automatically, not written down by hand. 3. **Write the prior information**: a short paragraph in your after-sales reply, reminding the customer of the choice between repair and replacement and of the extension. 4. **Identify your annex products**: household appliances, phones, tablets, light mobility. For each, who repairs in the Union: the manufacturer, its authorised representative, the importer? 5. **If you import one of these products yourself**, set up a repair network or a contract with a repairer: the directive allows repair to be subcontracted. This question of who answers in the Union is the same as for [defective product liability from 9 December](https://dotsland.com/en/defective-products-9-december-2026/): one supplier map serves both. ## What this says about the bigger picture Repair is becoming something the law actively pushes: longer guarantees, reasonable prices for spare parts, a ban on techniques that obstruct it. For a shop it is also an opportunity: an after-sales service that repairs well, and says so, stands out in a market where replacement is still the default answer. That after-sales journey work, from request to repair, is what we do through our [e-commerce and marketplaces expertise](https://dotsland.com/en/expertise/ecommerce-and-marketplaces/). > **What this article is not** > Legal advice. It describes the directive and the state of the French Consumer Code on 13 October 2026. The transposing law may clarify or supplement these rules. ## Sources All of these pages were opened on 13 October 2026. 1. Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on common rules promoting the repair of goods, Articles 5, 16, 21 and 22 and Annex II, EUR-Lex. [View](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32024L1799) 2. French Consumer Code, Article L. 217-13, version in force since 1 October 2021, Légifrance (in French). [View](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/article_lc/LEGIARTI000044142545) ## FAQ ### Is the legal guarantee extended by twelve months after a repair? Not yet in France. Directive (EU) 2024/1799 requires a single twelve-month extension when the consumer chooses repair, for contracts concluded from 31 July 2026. But as of 13 October 2026, Article L. 217-13 of the French Consumer Code still provides for six months. As an untransposed directive does not apply directly between a shop and its customer, six months is what applies today. ### Which products are covered by the obligation to repair? Those subject to EU reparability requirements: washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerating appliances, displays, welding equipment, vacuum cleaners, servers and storage, mobile and cordless phones, tablets, tumble dryers, and goods incorporating batteries for light means of transport. ### Can an online shop have to repair a product it did not make? Yes, for the products covered. If the manufacturer is established outside the Union, the obligation passes to its authorised representative, failing that to the importer, and failing an importer to the distributor. Repair can be subcontracted. ### Can Dotsland help? Yes. We review the after-sales journey with you: guarantee calculation, customer information, subcontracted repair. Start with the list above, then [get in touch](https://dotsland.com/en/contact-us/).