ABSTRACT
In1993,theEuropeanCommissionpublishedaGreenPaperonConsumer Guarantees(Commission,1993).Thispapersetouttheoptionsforregulatingboth "legal"guarantees(nowthe"conformitywiththecontract"requirement)and "commercial"guarantees,aswellasafter-salesservices.Threeyearslater,adraft Directivewasintroduced(COM(95)520final)whichfeaturedsomeoftheideas mootedintheGreenPaper,butthegeneralconsensusatthetimewasthattherehad beenaconsiderablewatering-downfromtheoriginalproposal.ThedraftDirective hadabumpyridethroughthelegislativeprocess,andtheconciliationprocedure hadtobeinvokedbeforeDirective99/44/EC1wasfinallyadoptedinMay1999 (seeTwigg-Flesner,1999b).ThisDirectivedealswiththreebroadareas:first,it setsdownamandatoryrequirementthatconsumergoodsmustbe"inconformity withthecontractofsale"(Article2).Secondly,asetofremediesaremade availableifgoodsarenotinconformity(Article3).Finally,thereislimited regulationofvoluntarilyprovidedguarantees(Article6).Thischapterisonly concernedwiththefinalaspect.Anoverviewoftheremainingprovisionsinthe Directiveisgiveninchapter1.
