What the EU Right to Repair Directive changes for your appliance warranty

The short answer

The EU Right to Repair Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/1799) does not give every appliance a longer warranty. The two-year legal guarantee on a new purchase is unchanged. What the directive adds is three things: when a seller fixes a faulty product under the guarantee, the seller's liability period is extended; once the guarantee has run out, the manufacturer must repair certain product categories on request; and repairers may give you a standard, binding quote form. Member States had to apply it from 31 July 2026, and Greece has passed its implementing law.

1. Repair inside the guarantee extends it

Under the amended sale-of-goods rules, if the remedy you choose for a faulty product is repair rather than replacement, the seller's liability period is extended once by 12 months. The seller must also tell you, before putting things right, that you may choose between repair and replacement, and about that extension.

This part only applies to sales contracts concluded on or after 31 July 2026. A dishwasher bought before that date is not covered by the new extension.

Greece implemented this in Law 5317/2026 (Government Gazette A' 108/10-07-2026) rather than by copying the 12-month wording. The new article 5ια of the consumer protection law 2251/1994 says that when repair is the chosen remedy, the buyer's rights lapse after three years for movable goods. The Greek provisions on the seller's duty to inform and on the objective conformity requirements (which now expressly include durability and repairability) likewise apply only to sales concluded on or after 31 July 2026. The text we read is a reproduction of the Gazette on a legal publisher's site, not the Gazette itself, so confirm the wording there if a claim depends on it.

2. After the guarantee: the manufacturer's repair duty

For defects that appear after the seller's liability has ended, the directive says that on your request the manufacturer must repair goods that are subject to EU repairability requirements, unless repair is impossible. The repair can be free or at a reasonable price, must be done within a reasonable time, and the manufacturer may lend you a replacement or offer a refurbished product if repair is impossible. Manufacturers must also not use contract terms or hardware or software techniques that block repair, and must not refuse to repair only because someone else repaired the product before.

The directive's list of covered products (its Annex II) names, among others, household washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, refrigerating appliances, electronic displays, vacuum cleaners and household tumble dryers, as well as mobile phones and tablets. Boilers, air conditioners and solar water heaters are not on that list, so this manufacturer duty does not apply to them. Greek law points to its own annex listing the covered acts; check it before relying on a product being covered.

3. The European Repair Information Form

Repairers may give you a standard form, free of charge, before you commit to a repair. It states who the repairer is, the defect and proposed repair, the price (or how it is calculated and the maximum price), how long it takes, and whether a loan appliance is available. Once you have it, the repairer may not change those conditions for 30 calendar days, and if you accept within that period they are bound to do the repair on those terms. A repairer can charge for the diagnosis needed to fill the form in, but must tell you the cost.

The directive also requires an EU-wide online platform to find repairers; the common interface is due by 31 July 2027.

What to do with this

• Record the purchase date of every appliance. Sales on or after 31 July 2026 get the repair extension; earlier ones do not.
• If a covered appliance fails inside the guarantee, ask for repair in writing and keep the date, because repair is what triggers the extension.
• Keep the receipt, model and serial number on the same record. After the guarantee ends, the manufacturer's repair duty still starts with you asking.
• For a quote from a repairer, ask for the repair information form.

Track it in Epimeleia

Add each appliance with its purchase date and receipt, and Epimeleia will remind you before the two-year guarantee ends, so you can raise a fault while the seller is still liable. If you have a repair done, log the date on the same record so you know when any extension runs to. See also how long an appliance warranty lasts in the EU.

Before you rely on this

The directive text was read from the official EU publication; the Greek provisions were read on a legal publisher's reproduction of Law 5317/2026. We did not verify how courts or the consumer authority apply the repair extension in practice, and a consumer-law adviser can confirm how it applies to a particular dispute.