In the area of warranty for quality, relatively chaotic legislative development has occurred in the Czech Republic over the past 15 years. Not only among the general public may there exist certain doubts about what is actually meant by warranty for quality and what rules actually apply here. For these reasons, among others, we consider it beneficial to summarise at least basic information on this issue in this legal circular. We may address the formal requirements when providing warranty for quality at some point in the future.

Firstly, it is necessary to distinguish warranty for quality from the “general” liability of the seller for defects in goods. Within the framework of general liability for defects, the seller is, inter alia, liable to the consumer for a defect which “manifests itself on the thing within two years of taking over”. Likewise, directly by law in consumer relations, it applies that “if a defect manifests itself within one year of taking over, it shall be presumed that the thing was defective already upon taking over, unless the nature of the thing or the defect precludes this”. However, this legal regulation is not a warranty (although it is sometimes referred to as such in practice).

Conversely, warranty for quality, according to the legal regulation effective from 6 January 2023, means a declaration “by the warranty provider that it will satisfy the buyer beyond the scope of his statutory rights arising from defective performance”. This means that a warranty is the provision of additional rights to the buyer, beyond those rights arising from liability for defects which arise to the buyer directly by law. For example, therefore, a declaration that the warranty provider will refund the purchase price to the buyer, replace the thing or repair it even in the event that a defect manifests itself on the thing at any time within a period of 4 years from the purchase of the goods by the buyer (regardless of the condition of such thing at the time of its taking over by the buyer). For completeness, we note that warranty for quality may also be provided to the buyer by a person other than the seller (most frequently the manufacturer), who is then bound to the buyer from such warranty. Also for completeness, we mention that a warranty may also be provided by a declaration stated in advertising or by marking “the usability period of the thing on the packaging of the thing”.

With regard to the above, it therefore applies that warranty for quality cannot be provided in respect of those rights arising from liability for defects which arise to the buyer directly by law. For these reasons, it is therefore always necessary to define what the provided warranty actually consists of (to what extent the buyer is advantaged by the provision of the warranty compared to the statutory regulation of the seller’s liability for defects). The explanatory memorandum to the newly adopted provisions on warranty for quality also speaks in this spirit. “This concerns a voluntary commitment of the warranty provider; it is therefore primarily up to it to what obligations it commits itself in the warranty. A warranty may only be undertaken beyond the scope of the buyer’s statutory rights arising from defective performance, so that customers are not misled in this manner.”

In this connection, it is appropriate to recall the regulation in the area of so-called misleading practices: “Commercial practices are always considered misleading if the seller … presents as an advantage of the offer rights which arise to the consumer directly by law…” This means that traders are prohibited from presenting as an advantage for the buyer such rights which already arise to the buyer directly by law. For example, therefore, presenting a “warranty” in respect of defects in the thing which manifest themselves within two years of taking over by the buyer, if liability for such defects is borne by the trader already directly by law.

In conclusion, it may be mentioned that the above legal regulation regarding warranty for quality also applies to all other contracts (not only to purchase contracts), which is expressly established by the provision of Section 2113(3) of the Civil Code “Provisions on warranty for quality shall apply mutatis mutandis also to a warranty undertaken in connection with a contract other than a purchase contract.”

Josef Aujezdsky

This text was originally prepared by the law firm Mašek, Kočí, Aujezdský in cooperation with the Association for Electronic Commerce (APEK) as legal circular No. 03/2024 intended for members of this association.

This text was translated from Czech to English using an AI translator.