Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2017:284
Date: 2017-04-06
Language of the case: French
Subject matter: Consumer protection;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber), 13 July 2017 Consumer protection — Sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees — Directive 1999/44 — Period of liability of the seller — Limitation period — Second-hand goods — National rule allowing the limitation period for action by the consumer to be shorter than two years from the time of delivery of the goods and providing that the seller and consumer may agree on a period of liability of the seller of less than two years for the second-hand goods concerned — Unlawful (European Parliament and Council Directive 1999/44, Recital 24, Arts 1(1), 5(1), 7(1), second para., and 8(2)) Article 5(1) and the second subparagraph of Article 7(1) of Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees must be interpreted as precluding a rule of a Member State which allows the limitation period for action by the consumer to be shorter than two years from the time of delivery of the goods where the Member State has made use of the option given by the latter of those two provisions, and the seller and consumer have agreed on a period of liability of the seller of less than two years, namely a one-year period, for the second-hand goods concerned. In order to ensure a uniform minimum level of consumer protection in the context of the internal market, in accordance, inter alia, with Article 1(1) of Directive 1999/44, that directive established, under Article 5(1) thereof, two distinctive time limits, namely a period of liability of the seller and a limitation period. The mandatory minimum duration of each of those periods is, as a rule, two years from the time of delivery of the goods concerned. In that respect, it must be observed that (i) the limitation period of at least two years from the time of delivery of the goods is an important element of consumer protection guaranteed by Directive 1999/44 and (ii) the duration of that period is not contingent on that of the period of liability of the seller. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the second subparagraph of Article 7(1) of the directive, pursuant to which Member States may provide that, in the case of second-hand goods, the seller and consumer may agree a shorter time period for the liability of the seller than that set out in Article 5(1) of the directive, provided that that period is not less than one year, does not warrant a different interpretation. Accordingly, the possibility for Member States to provide that, in the case of second-hand goods, the parties may reduce the duration of the period of liability of the seller to one year from the time of delivery of the goods does not enable Member States to provide also that the parties may reduce the duration of the limitation period caught by the second sentence of Article 5(1) of the directive. Member States must comply with the minimum level of protection provided for by Directive 1999/44. Thus, pursuant to Article 8(2) of the directive, read in conjunction with recital 24 thereof, while they may adopt or maintain in force more stringent provisions in the field covered by the directive in order to ensure an even higher level of consumer protection, they may not undermine the guarantees laid down by the EU legislature. A national rule which would allow the limitation period afforded to consumers to be shortened as a consequence of the reduction of the period of liability of the seller to one year, would result in a lesser level of consumer protection and would undermine the guarantees afforded to consumers under Directive 1999/44. Indeed, consumers would thus be entirely deprived of legal remedies before the end of a period of two years from the time of delivery of the goods, a period of time which is guaranteed under the second sentence of Article 5(1) of the directive. (see paras 38, 41, 42, 47-50, operative part)