Q: We often hear about a mandatory two-year guarantee on all goods sold in Malta. However, when we go shopping, we still find goods for sale that are either sold without a guarantee or with a guarantee that is less than two years. Could you kindly clarify this issue? Should all goods be covered by a two-year guarantee or are there exceptions?

A: The mandatory two-year guarantee you are referring to is what the Consumer Affairs Act grants consumers upon purchasing a product – any kind of product.

This is the guarantee the law gives us, not the seller. The law stipulates that should a problem arise with the product purchased, either because it has a latent defect or because it does not conform with what was agreed to during the contract of sale, then we are legally entitled to request a remedy from the seller.

Besides this legal guarantee, the seller might also opt to give us an additional guarantee, known as 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 that dictates how long a commercial guarantee should be.

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 consumers.