Consumer rights to protect quality – or is more less?

Abstract

In civil law the consumer is a legal subject exposed to disadvantages, who needs legal protection not only because of a lack of information, but also of a lack of the appropriate legal competence to prevent poor performance that puts the consumer at a disadvantage. In addition, he or she usually does not have the necessary experience or financial resources to initiate and successfully conduct a legal dispute against a company. If we consider the legal consequences of poor performance for consumers, it can be stated that the EU directives issued in recent years have led to the current Civil Code and the associated government regulations reinterpreting more and more legal redress instruments. Especially in accessory and product liability and warranty, the amending regulations are becoming increasingly dense.

The main goal is to give consumers legal instruments to enforce their primary claim for repairing or replacing defective products as effectively as possible. Recently, in the spirit of the green transition, the EU legislator has increasingly favoured repair and adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on the right to repair, in summer 2024, encourages consumers to use this tool to enforce their claims for the elimination of defects. At first glance, consumers are in an enviable position. However, in the increasingly complex and constantly changing network of measures, consumer confusion can arise, which can easily be exploited by companies or manufacturers to use to their advantage the consumers’ right to choose between the remedy options. All of this can undesirably weaken the effectiveness of legal protection.