EU legal guarantee notice in WooCommerce: what changes in 2026
By Mariusz Szatkowski · Updated: 2026-11-06
Directive (EU) 2024/825 amends Directive 2011/83/EU so that, before a distance contract, a trader reminds the consumer of the legal guarantee of conformity and its two-year minimum, and, where the producer offers one, of a commercial guarantee of durability longer than two years. Both pieces of information have an official format: the harmonised notice and the harmonised label of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960. This guide explains what the two provisions say, what the notice and the label are, what the same directive changes for environmental claims, and what the free Durabix plugin does on a WooCommerce product page. Durabix shows a text reminder, not the harmonised notice or label, and this guide says where that difference matters.
What the legal guarantee reminder is
The legal guarantee reminder is a pre-contract information duty for goods. Article 6(1)(l) of Directive 2011/83/EU, as amended by Directive (EU) 2024/825, requires “a reminder of the existence of the legal guarantee of conformity for goods and its main elements, including its minimum duration of two years as provided in Directive (EU) 2019/771, in a prominent manner, using the harmonised notice referred to in Article 22a of this Directive”.
The provision has three parts:
- The reminder tells the consumer that the legal guarantee of conformity exists and what it covers.
- It states the minimum duration, two years.
- It is given using the notice referred to in Article 22a, not in the shop’s own words.
The legal guarantee already exists in law. What the 2024/825 amendment adds is the duty to remind the consumer of it, prominently, before the order.
What the durability guarantee information is
The durability guarantee information is a second, conditional duty. Article 6(1)(la) of Directive 2011/83/EU applies “where the producer offers the consumer a commercial guarantee of durability at no additional cost, covering the entire good and with a duration of more than two years, and makes that information available to the trader”. In that case the trader gives the information that the good benefits from such a guarantee, its duration and a reminder of the legal guarantee of conformity, in a prominent manner, using the harmonised label referred to in Article 22a.
All four conditions must be met before the duty applies:
- The producer offers it, not the shop.
- It costs the consumer nothing extra.
- It covers the entire good, not one component.
- It lasts more than two years, and the producer tells the trader about it.
A shop’s own extended warranty, a paid extension, or a guarantee on a single part falls outside Article 6(1)(la). That makes the durability information a per-product fact: it depends on what the producer of each item offers.
Digital content and digital services
Digital content and digital services have their own reminder. Article 6(1)(lb) of Directive 2011/83/EU requires “a reminder of the existence of the legal guarantee of conformity for digital content and digital services”. Point (l) speaks of goods and point (lb) of digital content and digital services, so a download or an online service needs the point (lb) reminder rather than the goods text. A shop that sells both kinds of product needs to handle them separately.
The harmonised notice and the harmonised label
The harmonised notice and the harmonised label are fixed formats set by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960:
- Harmonised notice (legal guarantee). Article 1: “The harmonised notice referred to in Article 22a(1) of Directive 2011/83/EU shall comply with the design and content set out in Annex I to this Regulation.”
- Harmonised label (durability guarantee). Article 2: “The harmonised label referred to in Article 22a(1) of Directive 2011/83/EU shall comply with the design and content set out in Annex II to this Regulation.”
- Date. Article 3: the Regulation applies from 27 September 2026.
Annex I note (1) says “None of the elements of the harmonised notice can be edited”. A sentence written by the shop, however accurate, is not the harmonised notice. Where a country’s transposing law applies, a text reminder alone does not meet Article 6(1)(l); the official notice from Annex I does.
When the rules apply
The rules apply through national law, on dates set by each Member State. Article 4(1) of Directive (EU) 2024/825 required Member States to adopt and publish the transposing measures by 27 March 2026 and to apply them from 27 September 2026. The rules bind shops through each country’s transposing law.
The Polish transposing act, Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1353, enters into force on 27 September 2027 (art. 3), a year after the directive’s date. A shop selling across borders checks the transposing law of each country it targets rather than assuming one date for the whole EU.
Environmental claims on the same product page
Directive (EU) 2024/825 also adds two practices to the list in Annex I to Directive 2005/29/EC, the practices banned in all circumstances:
- Point 4a. “Making a generic environmental claim for which the trader is not able to demonstrate recognised excellent environmental performance relevant to the claim.” Recital 9 of Directive (EU) 2024/825 gives “eco-friendly”, “green” and “biodegradable” as examples of generic claims.
- Point 4c. “Claiming, based on the offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions, that a product has a neutral, reduced or positive impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.”
A matching word is not by itself a breach. Point 4c bans climate claims only when based on offsetting, and recital 9 says a claim whose specification is provided in clear and prominent terms on the same medium, such as the online selling interface, is not a generic environmental claim. The practical job for a shop is to find the phrases in its catalogue and decide, product by product, whether each one is specific and supported.
The repairability class of smartphones and tablets
The repairability class applies to one product group. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1669 sets the energy label of smartphones and slate tablets, which includes a repairability class from A (most repairable) to E (least repairable), applicable from 20 June 2025 (Article 8 and Annex II, Table 4). Article 1 excludes mobile phones and tablets with a flexible main display the user can roll up or unroll, and smartphones for high security communication. No other product group has this class under that Regulation.
What WooCommerce does by default
WooCommerce has no field or output for any of these duties. A shop owner can paste a sentence into each product description, but that text is not tied to a setting, is not translatable through language packs, has no per-product durability data and no way to hide it on downloads. Environmental phrases sit in titles, descriptions and attribute values with nothing that points them out.
How Durabix handles it
Durabix is a free WooCommerce plugin that adds a legal guarantee reminder, a durability guarantee note, a repairability class badge and a green claims phrase check to the product page and the product editor. It shows its own text, in the plugin’s words, and does not render the Annex I notice or the Annex II label.
The reminder, the durability note and the repairability badge under the product summary.
The legal guarantee reminder
The reminder is on after activation, on every product, with nothing to save first. The built-in text reads: “You are entitled by law to a legal guarantee of conformity from the seller, free of charge, for at least 2 years. National law may provide a longer period.” The number follows the Statutory Guarantee Duration setting, from 2 to 10 years; values outside that range are clamped. A Custom Notice Override field replaces the built-in text with one line of your own, in every language as typed, and ignores the duration setting.
The built-in text is one English string translated through WordPress.org language packs. It is a plain-text reminder of the legal guarantee, useful as information for shoppers, and it is not a substitute for the harmonised notice where the transposing law requires it.
The durability guarantee note
The note appears only on products where you enter a producer durability guarantee. The product editor has a Commercial Durability (Years) field that accepts 3 or more, and a Producer / Brand Name field. A value of 2 or less is not saved, which mirrors the “more than two years” condition of Article 6(1)(la). The customer sees, for example, “Fairline offers a 5-year commercial guarantee of durability at no extra cost.” When the producer field is empty, the note says “The manufacturer”. This is a text note, not the harmonised label of Annex II.
The repairability class badge
A Repairability Class (A - E) select stores the class for a smartphone or slate tablet. The badge reads “Repairability class: B (A to E, Regulation (EU) 2023/1669)” and is coloured green for A and B, yellow for C, orange for D and red for E. It shows only when a class is set, and it is a badge, not the official energy label format. Leave the field at None for every other product.
The green claims phrase check
A Green Claims Phrase Check box in the product editor sidebar reads the title, description, short description, attribute values and the descriptions of up to 100 variations. It matches four groups of phrases in English, Polish, German and Spanish, including inflected forms:
| Group | Example phrases | Annex I point |
|---|---|---|
| Climate neutral | climate neutral, carbon neutral, CO2 neutral | 4c |
| Eco-friendly or ecological | eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, ecological | 4a |
| Biodegradable | biodegradable | 4a |
| Climate positive or net zero | climate positive, carbon positive, net zero | 4c |
Each match is listed with the matched text, a short explanation and the Annex I point. The box is a list to review, not a legal assessment. It works in the product editor whether or not the reminder is shown.
The green claims phrase check lists phrases to review, with the Annex I point for each.
Placement, the hide switch and setup
The settings live under WooCommerce > EU Legal Guarantee, for users with the manage_woocommerce capability. Display Location has two options: under the single product summary, near the price and the add-to-cart button, or in a dedicated “Guarantee & Durability” product tab that is added only when the product has something to show.
Each product has a Hide guarantee reminder checkbox, for example for a download or a service. It is never set automatically. Durabix does not show the Article 6(1)(lb) reminder for digital content and digital services, so a shop selling those writes that reminder separately.
The product fields on the General tab of the classic product editor.
Setup takes four steps:
- Activate Durabix. The reminder appears under the product summary on every product.
- Edit products that carry a producer durability guarantee and enter the years and the producer.
- Set the repairability class on smartphones and slate tablets only.
- Review the green claims box on products with environmental wording.
The full field reference is in the Durabix documentation.
What Durabix stores and loads
Durabix stores its settings in one option and four product meta keys on the parent product. It loads no scripts, makes no external requests and does not touch orders, the cart or the checkout, so it runs alongside HPOS and the Cart and Checkout Blocks. Deleting the plugin removes the option and the product meta on every site of a multisite network.
What Durabix does not do
These limits decide whether a shop needs more than the plugin:
- No harmonised notice. Durabix shows a text reminder, not the Annex I notice of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960. Where the transposing law applies, the text alone does not meet Article 6(1)(l).
- No harmonised label. The durability note is text, not the Annex II label.
- No digital content reminder. The Article 6(1)(lb) reminder is not shown.
- No output outside the product page. Nothing appears in shop listings, the cart, the checkout or order emails.
- No per-variation fields. One durability guarantee and one repairability class per product, in the classic product editor only.
- No legal assessment of claims. The green claims check covers four groups of phrases.
Treat Durabix as a way to keep guarantee information and claim review in one place on each product, and place the official notice and label from the Annexes where the law of your target country requires them.
Durabix versus default WooCommerce
| Capability | Default WooCommerce | Durabix |
|---|---|---|
| Legal guarantee text on product pages | None | Text reminder, years 2 to 10, custom override |
| Harmonised notice (Annex I, 2025/1960) | None | None, text reminder only |
| Producer durability guarantee per product | None | Years (3 or more) and producer, shown as a text note |
| Harmonised label (Annex II, 2025/1960) | None | None, text note only |
| Repairability class | None | A to E badge for smartphones and slate tablets |
| Environmental phrase review | None | Four phrase groups in EN, PL, DE, ES, product editor box |
| Hide on non-goods | n/a | Per-product checkbox, never automatic |
| Placement | n/a | Product summary or a dedicated product tab |
| External requests and scripts | n/a | None |
| Cost | Free | Free |
Related guides
The guarantee reminder is one of several consumer-law duties on a product page and in the order flow. The guide to the EU right of withdrawal in WooCommerce covers the 14-day withdrawal period and the withdrawal function.
The short version
Directive (EU) 2024/825 adds two pre-contract duties to Directive 2011/83/EU: a prominent reminder of the legal guarantee of conformity with its two-year minimum (Article 6(1)(l)), and, where the producer offers one, information on a free commercial durability guarantee longer than two years (Article 6(1)(la)). Both use formats fixed by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960, the harmonised notice and the harmonised label, applicable from 27 September 2026, while each shop follows its own country’s transposing law and date. The free Durabix for WooCommerce plugin shows a text reminder, a durability note, a repairability class badge and a green claims phrase check. It does not show the harmonised notice or label, so use the official Annex I notice and Annex II label where the law requires them.