EU legal guarantee notice: what changes on 27 September 2026

1 · WHO NEEDS TO REVIEW THIS

Sellers of consumer goods in the EU

The official Your Europe guidance addresses sellers of consumer goods in the EU. It says sellers must inform consumers of their rights through the mandatory harmonised notice. The requirement is not a generic rule for every website, every digital service or every product worldwide.

For an online WooCommerce store, first confirm whether the business and goods are in scope. The European Commission’s harmonised notice is separate from the GARAN label used for a qualifying voluntary commercial guarantee of durability.

2 · THE DATE

Mandatory from 27 September 2026

The official business guidance states that the harmonised legal-guarantee notice becomes mandatory on 27 September 2026. Treat that as an implementation deadline, not as a claim that installing a plugin makes the store legally compliant.

3 · THE ARTWORK

Use the official language asset, in colour online

The notice is available in every EU language. The official guidance identifies fixed features that cannot be modified, including its QR code. For online use, the notice must be displayed in colour.

• Download the correct official language asset from the European Commission.
• Keep the fixed artwork and QR code intact.
• Display the online version in colour.
• Do not translate, redraw or improvise a replacement image.

4 · WEBSITE PLACEMENT

A prominent general reminder—not another readiness score

The EU guidance says an e-commerce website can show the notice as a general reminder. It does not say that CertaCart should count the notice once for every product, so CertaCart keeps the notice outside its per-product readiness score.

Review where the notice remains prominent in the real customer journey: for example, a durable store information page or another visible site-wide location appropriate to the business. Check the result on desktop and mobile and make sure the artwork stays legible.

5 · WHAT CERTACART DOES

A local placement helper with a deliberate boundary

CertaCart lets the merchant select an image from the WordPress media library and can include that merchant-supplied image with CertaCart’s product-information output for in-scope products. The plugin does not bundle the official artwork, edit it, translate it, recognise whether it is genuine or verify that the final website placement is legally sufficient.

6 · IMPLEMENTATION CHECKLIST

A careful WooCommerce rollout

1. 1Confirm that the seller and consumer goods are within the stated EU scope.
2. 2Choose the official language version for the intended audience.
3. 3Download the high-resolution asset from the European Commission.
4. 4Keep the artwork unmodified and in colour online.
5. 5Place it prominently in the real WooCommerce customer journey.
6. 6Review desktop and mobile output, including the QR code and legibility.
7. 7Record who reviewed applicability and when, then revisit the placement after theme changes.

OFFICIAL SOURCES

Read the primary guidance before publishing

Last reviewed against these sources on 4 September 2026. Re-check the official pages before relying on this guide after that date.