Some products require legal information to be displayed in a certain way next to the item.
To prevent violating regulations issued by a variety of legal bodies, we’ve compiled all relevant details you need to observe when it comes to these rules. Everyone selling on the Conrad Sourcing Platform needs to comply with the law. If you don’t, you will face sanctions which may include your seller account being suspended.
Legally relevant problems are listed in your dashboards in the Seller Portal. Check there regularly to rectify errors.
Energy efficient classes (EECs) rate products based on power consumption (electricity and other energy forms) and other performance characteristics. They enable the comparison of a product tosimilar products by other brands. Besides stating the EEC of a product, you also need to display an energy efficiency (EE) label that conforms to the respective EU regulations, and an EE product information sheet.
Currently, there are two types of products, namely those that need to comply with the new EU regulations (who use the new EE label design comprising EE arrows and A-to-G scales), and those that conform with the old regulations.
Among other appliances, these product categories include TV sets, PC monitors, washing machines and lighting fixtures. Each product needs to be registered on the EU EPREL database.
These products need to display the new A-to-G scale EE label. You also need to provide an EE product information sheet (energy fiche) in the form of a PDF.
3) Besides the relevant EE label, manufacturers need to provide an EE product information sheet
Apply to product categories such as air conditioners, cookers/stoves, kitchen hoods etc.
These products need to display the old EE label. You also need to provide a product information sheet that complies with these regulations and displays the stipulated details. Moreover, you might need to provide additional technical specs, to enable generating a digital product data sheet.
Law requires that retailers selling to end consumers also display the unit price (i.e. the cost of the product by an appropriate unit of measurement) next to the retail price, so that consumers are able to compare the costs of different products, regardless of their respective package sizes.
If, in terms of common understanding, the use of weight, volume, length or area makes sense, unit prices need to be displayed.
Selling and promoting any goods measured by weight, volume, lengths or area must include the unit price information in a clear and easily readable manner. Discounts for individual products (however, not the product’s usual retail price) are exempt from unit pricing. VAT and other price components must be included.
The unit of measure that both unit price and retail price are based on needs to be chosen in line with common understanding, using the references weight, volume, length or area.
Award badges and consumer association product reviews may only be used for marketing purposes during the two years that follow the award ceremony/publication date, respectively. This also applies to displaying badges and referring to product reviews in printed media promotions. Please make sure to reference the relevant source in a clear and easily readable manner (e.g. Issue #26, 2016, or www.magazineurl.com/tests).
Pages showing products that come with an extended warranty and additional product services, and are advertised as such, need to make the relevant warranty terms and conditions available to customers in the form of a PDF. This PDF needs to comply with both §479 of the German Civil Code and §17 of EU Directive 2019/771.
Manufacturers’ extended warranties and your statutory rights as a consumer (aka 24-month statutory guarantee) are two completely different things. Extended warranties are provided voluntarily, unlike 24-month guarantees (or 12-months guarantees, in the case of pre-owned products). Moreover, extended warranties are basically a type of additional product service that won’t affect, or replace, a consumer’s statutory rights.
Consumers buying a product have certain statutory rights, imposing liability on manufacturers and retailers. Customers can exercise these rights in the case of product faults where the damage has not been caused by the consumer. If a product malfunctions within 12 months after the purchase, law considers the item as having been faulty at the time it was sold, and holding the manufacturer/retailer responsible, unless the retailer/manufacturer is able to prove that the damage is a result of inappropriate use by the customer.
However, in the event of a product malfunctioning during the remaining 12 months, it’s the consumer who needs to prove that the item was already faulty at the time of purchase. Example: if the LC display of a voltage tester you bought at Conrad stops working after two months, we replace the faulty tester with a new one.
Extended warranties are optional additional product services provided by manufacturers and/or retailers. They won’t affect, or replace, a consumer’s statutory rights
Example: A product comes with both the statutory 24-month guarantee and a voluntary 2-year manufacturers’ warranty. In the event of the product malfunctioning after 15 months, buyers will still be covered by the extended warranty, means they do not need to prove that the product was already faulty at the time of the purchase as they would have to when exercising their statutory rights.
Law requires the mandatory display of user guidelines and/or warning labels next to certain types of products.
The Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation (1272/2008 EC) governs the way hazardous materials need to be prepared for sale and shipping.
The use of certain trademarked terms requires a footnote (indicated by an asterisk at the term) being placed at the edge of the page or next to the product.
Using registered trademarks that have become generic terms in product information content and advertising copy is not permissible (unless they are products manufactured by the brand name owner, or products manufactured under licence).
You can only refer to material as leather, or genuine leather, or use a term that, in common understanding, clearly describes a specific type of leather (nappa, nubuk, saffian etc) if the material used in the product has been obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of split or unsplit animal skins and hides.
If you use the term “leather”, make sure you use the appropriate terminology.
The use of below terms constitutes anti-competitive practice and is, therefore, NOT permitted.
For some products, such as work wear, footwear, and gloves, you need to provide the individual materials (in percentages) the product is made of.
When it comes to distance selling of pre-packaged food (e.g. Conrad Energy Drinks), law requires making a set of food-related information available to consumers prior to the sale of the product.
What details you need to provide is governed by both the food labelling regulations and EU law as a whole. All information must be given in the language of the country the product is sold in, which also applies to any text displayed on the packaging. Moreover, when selling abroad, you need to comply with any country-specific regulations (if applicable).
Advertising copy must not be written in a way that leads readers to believe they are getting something special when, in fact, the seller merely complies with the legal requirements. This is governed by the EU Directive 2005/29/EC (and its country-specific implementations) concerning unfair B2C commercial practices across the EEA. Infringement of this law may result in sanctions.
Example:
The product information explicitly states that the product comes with a CE label. However, the CE badge is actually a prerequisite for the product to become sellable across Europe.
Germany’s Radio Equipment Act (Funkanlagengesetz, FuAG) protects consumers and prevents interference with the radio frequency spectrum used by public, commercial and private entities.
The Act stipulates the standards radio equipment has to conform with before being sold on the market.
Both manufacturers and sellers are responsible for making sure that their products comply with the law.
This includes CE labels and providing the relevant technical information.
Directive 2022/2380 is an amendment of the Radio Equipment Directive (RED) 2014/53/EU and is available at
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02014L0053-20231001
Learn more about RED compliance here.
