February 7, 2022

Consumer Protection – Requirement to Disclose Products Lifespan

The Egyptian Consumer Protection Agency (“CPA“) issued Decree No. 4/1 for 2021 (“Decree”) to oblige manufacturers, distributors and suppliers of any product to disclose its expected lifespan to the consumers. We believe the Decree is broad enough to cover all kinds of products such as home appliance, automotive and medical devices.

The Decree required that the expected lifespan of the product must be written:

  • in a clear way on the product itself as well as its packaging;
  • in a way that is not easy to remove;
  • in all material related to the products such as all advertisement materials, invoices, guarantee certificates and operation manual; and
  • in Arabic language.

The expected lifespan of a product is defined as the period starting from the date of handing over the product to the consumer or the date of installation of the product, as the case maybe, and during which the supplier is required to provide after-sales maintenance and repair services. Accordingly, the Decree required that maintenance work, spare part and repair services must be available to the consumers during the lifespan of the product.

Suppliers are granted three-month grace period to comply with the Decree before the 1st of May 2022.  Non-compliance with the Decree can be penalized with a fine of up to 2,000,000 EGP or an amount equal to the value of the concerned product whichever is greater. This is notwithstanding the joint liability rules under the Consumer Protection Law.

If you have any questions or comments regarding the Decree, please contact Dr. Fatma Salah.

Authors

Get in Touch

Related posts

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Subscribe to Receive Legal Updates