The GARAN label is not a general guarantee badge. It is mandatory only for one precisely defined type of guarantee. Answer the five questions below in order. If every answer is yes, you must display the label for that product from 27 September 2026.
Key point: The label is required only when a producer offers a free commercial guarantee of durability, covering the entire good, for more than two years, and has told you about it. Every other guarantee stays outside the label.
Question 1: Is the guarantee given by the producer?
The label refers to a producer’s guarantee. The producer is the manufacturer, or in EU terms the party defined in Article 17 of Directive (EU) 2019/771 on the sale of goods. A guarantee offered by you as the retailer does not qualify, however generous it is.
If you are both producer and seller, for example a brand selling through its own e-shop, the answer is yes. If you resell goods and offer your own store guarantee, the answer is no.
Question 2: Is it free of charge?
The guarantee must be offered at no additional cost to the consumer. Paid guarantees, extended warranties, protection plans and insurance sold with the product do not qualify, even when they are marketed by the producer.
Question 3: Does it cover the entire good?
The guarantee must cover the whole product, not a single component. A ten-year guarantee on the compressor of a fridge, the motor of a vacuum cleaner or the frame of a bicycle does not qualify. Such partial guarantees can still be offered and described in the guarantee statement, just without the label.
Question 4: Is it longer than two years?
The threshold in Directive 2011/83/EU is a duration of more than two years. A guarantee of exactly two years does not qualify. The shortest value the label can carry is 2,5 years. Durations are expressed in whole years or half years; see how to enter the guarantee duration.
Question 5: Has the producer informed you?
Traders are not expected to search for durability guarantees themselves. The obligation to display the label is triggered when the producer makes the information available to the trader. If a producer has communicated such a guarantee, you must show the label for that product before the consumer is bound by the contract.
In practice, ask your suppliers which models carry a qualifying guarantee and for how long. Producers may also place the label on the product or its packaging, but the display obligation at the point of sale is yours.
If every answer is yes
Display the label prominently for that product, online and in store, from 27 September 2026:
- online in colour, on the product page, again before the order is placed, and in the confirmation email; see GARAN label online;
- in physical shops at a minimum of 95 × 100 mm, in colour or black and white; see GARAN label in print and in store;
- one label per model, with the producer’s brand name, the model identifier and the duration as the only editable fields.
You can create the label in the generator or generate a whole catalogue from a spreadsheet in batch mode.
If any answer is no
Do not use the label. The Commission’s guidelines list what the label must not be used for:
- guarantees covering only part of a product or a single component;
- paid guarantees, extended warranties or insurance sold with the good;
- guarantees of two years or less;
- any other commercial guarantee offered by the seller or the producer.
You may still offer and advertise those guarantees. Describe them in the guarantee statement and in your product information, without the GARAN label.
What applies to every trader anyway
Independently of the label, every trader selling goods to consumers must display the harmonised notice on the legal guarantee of conformity from the same date. It is displayed once per shop, not per product, and nothing in it can be edited. Download the official files on the legal guarantee notice page and read where to display the legal guarantee notice.
FAQ
The producer offers three years, but only on registration. Does the label apply?
The guidelines require the guarantee to be free of charge and to cover the entire good for more than two years. Whether a registration condition changes that is not addressed in the sources on this site. Ask the producer for the guarantee statement and, if in doubt, your national consumer authority.
I sell used goods. Does the label apply?
Only if the producer offers a qualifying guarantee on the specific good you sell and has informed you. Producer guarantees on used goods are rare, so in most cases the answer is no. The legal guarantee notice still applies to you.
The producer already prints the label on the packaging. Do I still have to display it?
Yes. Producers may place the label on the product or its packaging, but the trader must display it prominently at the point of sale, online and in store, before the consumer is bound by the contract.