New Consumer Warranty Act since 1 March 2026 · burden of proof reversed for a full year

Updated July 2026

🛠️ Can the trader refuse to repair it?

With conditions

Quick answer

Only within narrow limits — and the limits changed on 1 March 2026. Since then the Consumer Warranty Act (KonsGG) applies: the trader may refuse to put the goods right only if both repair and replacement would be impossible or disproportionately expensive for him (Art. 12 para. 3) — and then price reduction or rescission follow automatically. The key change: the reversal of the burden of proof now lasts a full year, not six months (Art. 11 para. 1). A defect appearing in the first year is presumed to have been there from the start — and it is the trader who must prove otherwise. Almost no German-language guide has caught up with this yet.

📋 The rules

Warranty period for goods (B2C): two years from handover, for any defect that emerges in that time (KonsGG Art. 10 para. 1). Digital services: two years, or the duration of the supply obligation (Art. 18).
Reversal of the burden of proof: ONE YEAR (Art. 11 para. 1). A defect emerging within a year of handover is presumed to have existed at handover. Previously it was six months (§ 924 ABGB) — Liechtenstein did not take up the EU option of extending it to two years.
The consumer chooses (Art. 12 para. 2): between repair and replacement; the trader can only push back where your choice is impossible or, compared with the other remedy, disproportionately burdensome. The remedy must be provided within a reasonable time, free of charge and without significant inconvenience — including removal and reinstallation (Art. 13).
Price reduction or rescission (Art. 12 para. 4): available where the trader refuses the remedy, fails to provide it within a reasonable time, or the defect reappears after an attempted repair. No rescission for a merely minor defect — but doubt about whether it is minor counts against the trader (para. 5).
Limitation: the rights lapse three months after the end of the warranty period (Art. 28 para. 1) — in practice two years plus three months. For second-hand goods the period may be cut to one year by contract, but only if individually negotiated; for motor vehicles only if more than a year has passed since first registration (Art. 10 para. 4).

🔓 Exceptions

Older contracts: the KonsGG contains no transitional provision. That it applies only to contracts from 1 March 2026 is an inference from the ban on retroactivity (§ 5 ABGB) — not a clause you can quote. And because § 924 ABGB was not repealed, the old six-month presumption survives outside the scope of the KonsGG, i.e. outside consumer sales of goods.
Excluded transactions (Art. 1 para. 2): live animals, non-digital services, healthcare, gambling, financial services, free and open-source software supplied without payment, and goods sold in enforcement proceedings.
Known defects and skipped updates: the trader escapes the standard of objectively required qualities if you expressly and separately agreed to the deviation when the contract was concluded (Art. 6 para. 1) — the known dent on the display model. And if you fail to install a supplied update within a reasonable time, he is not liable for a defect resulting solely from that (Art. 7 para. 3).

⚠️ Penalties & fines

There is no fine here — here you lose rights. Once the two-year warranty period and the three-month limitation period have run out, the claim is gone. The second effect this time runs in the consumer's favour: the old law required you to enforce the warranty in court within the period — that requirement has fallen. Price reduction and rescission are now exercised by informal declaration (Art. 14/15). And anyone who notifies the defect within the limitation period can raise it as a defence without any time limit against a claim for payment (Art. 28 para. 3).

📎 Official sources

Last verified: 2026-07-12

❓ Frequently asked

How long is the warranty?

Two years from handover for any defect emerging in that time (KonsGG Art. 10). The rights themselves lapse three months after that period ends — in practice two years and three months.

After six months, must I prove the defect was there from the start?

No, not any more: since 1 March 2026 the presumption runs for a full year (Art. 11 para. 1). Guides still talking about six months are describing the law as it stood before the KonsGG.

Can the trader simply refuse to repair?

Only if both repair and replacement would be impossible or disproportionately expensive for him (Art. 12 para. 3). If he refuses the remedy, he himself opens the door to a price reduction or rescission.

What is the difference between a guarantee and the statutory warranty?

The warranty is your statutory claim against the seller; a guarantee is voluntary and nobody has to give one. If a trader does give one, he is bound by what his advertising promised — and if the advertising is more favourable, the advertising wins.

Does the new law cover my purchase from 2025?

Probably not: the KonsGG has no transitional provision, and from the ban on retroactivity in § 5 ABGB it follows that it applies to contracts from 1 March 2026. For older contracts the six-month presumption stands.

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