Q: We hear about a mandatory two-year guarantee on all goods sold in Malta, yet in shops one still finds goods being sold either without a guarantee or with a six-month maximum guarantee.

Could you kindly clarify this issue? Should all goods be covered by this two-year guarantee, or are there exceptions?

A: The mandatory two-year warranty referred to is what the Consumer Affairs Act grants to consumers upon purchasing a product, any product. This is the guarantee the law gives to consumers and not to the shop owner.

Should a problem arise with the product purchased either through a latent defect or if the purchased product results non-conforming with what was agreed to between seller and buyer during the contract of sale, then consumers are legally entitled to request a remedy from the seller. Such remedies can either take the form of repair or replacement, or part or full money refund.

Besides this warranty, the seller might also opt to give an additional guarantee, which basically is the commercial guarantee. This guarantee is given on a voluntary basis by the retailer and its length of time can vary from one product to another, or from one retailer to another.

There is no law dictating how long a commercial guarantee should last. However, whether or not a product carries with it a commercial guarantee, the two-year legal guarantee is always there and no retailer can take that away from the consumer.