Consumer Sales guarantees in the European Union

Abstract

The thesis pursues three main aims. The first aim is to present the current legislative situation in the European Union and the process that led to accepting the assumptions concerning guarantees that laid foundations for the rules on the guarantee contained in the Consumer Sales Directive. The second aim is to analyse the EU rules on guarantees, as contained in the Consumer Sales Directive. At the same time, the correctness of the assumptions that underlie the EU legislation on guarantees is tested, as well as whether the rules as accepted in the Consumer Sales Directive are able to meet the objectives set for them. The third aim is a thorough analysis of the guarantee structure, while accepting the EU assumption concerning the guarantee (the guarantee as a marketing and competition tool, which may mislead consumers, established on the basis of the sales contract). It is done in order to provide more background information as to the question, whether or not the rules of the Consumer Sales Directive are sufficient in the area of the consumer sales guarantee, even if the same assumptions as for the function of the guarantee are accepted. Here, the question is asked which other aspects of the guarantee should be dealt with by legislation and in what form. The thesis include also certain conclusions that follow from the analysis, but which are beyond the scope of the research questions. These findings could be useful when investigating the EU legal sphere in the area of private (or consumer) law. First, it is the problem of the relation between national law and EU law. The EU legislator cannot act in separation from the national law. The national solutions and traditions existing in the regulated area cannot be disregarded. In the area of the guarantee, the best examples would be Ireland, Poland or Hungary. The transposition and implementation of the EU rules is not exhausted when the rules contained in a directive are rewritten in the national legislation, there must be a connection established between the national and the European legislation. The area in the legal system when the EU legislation meets (or should meet) the national legislation is of crucial importance, because it has a decisive meaning for the way the EU rules function in practice. EU law will function as desired only if the national legislation works properly in practice. Therefore, co-operation and dialogue between the national and European legislator is necessary, also (or maybe most of all) at the time when the EU legislation is drafted – the national law reality cannot not be ignored when creating EU law. Second, it must be underlined that EU legislation can lower the level of consumer protection, even if the transposition is made in the format of minimum harmonisation, and in theory the Member States can maintain their own rules in the area. Implementation necessitates a need to adjust the national legislation, to create a connection with the EU rules, which would introduce then into the national system, to fill in gaps, etc. In this process the effective level of consumer protection may easily decrease. 238 Last, one can claim that the EU legislator (which is probably natural for legislators in general) acclaims a success when a legal act is adopted, without much attention being paid as to the content of the rules.