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.
The energy efficiency class is a scale that allows a comparison of the product based on its energy demand (electricity or other energy sources) and other usage characteristics. In addition to the EEK information, it is mandatory to provide an energy label online with the information required by the EU as well as a product data sheet.
Basically, a distinction is currently made between two regulations. The product groups that fall under the new regulation (EU) 2019/2016 and the product groups of the old regulation. The two regulations differ significantly.
Affected product groups here include televisions, monitors, washing machines or light sources. Each item must be registered in the EU EPREL database.
A new energy label on the scale A to G is required for these products. In addition, an energy data sheet (energy fiche) must be delivered in PDF format.
Affected product groups include air conditioners, ovens and cooker bonnets.
An old energy label must be provided for these products. In addition, certain technical information must be submitted; this is automatically made available to the customer in a virtual product data sheet on our platform.
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).
Following a court ruling (OLG Hamm), law now requires companies to notify customers of the existence and terms of extended warranties and additional product services that apply to the product they sell, regardless of whether these warranties and services are being advertised on the product pages or not. This also includes making the relevant warranty terms and conditions available to customers. Just stating that a warranty exists as a part of marketing the product does not conform with the law.
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 six 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 18 months, it’s the consumer who needs to proof 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. Their terms and conditions may depend on the product sold and may vary, but they need to comply with the law. Example: A PC screen manufacturer provides an 18-month extended warranty that covers buyers for defective pixels, offering a replacement product in the event of a pixel malfunction. In his case, the buyer needs to return the faulty screen to the manufacturer, and not to the retailer or seller.
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.
Precisely 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.
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.
