Portugal: New consumer rights in the sale and purchase of digital services, contents and goods

Portugal - 26 / 10 / 2021

Alerta Portugal

Decree-Law 84/2021, dated October 18, has been published, regulating consumer rights in the sale and purchase of digital services, contents and goods and transposing Directives (EU) 2019/771 and (EU) 2019/770.

This new law implements various amendments, including the following:

the professional becomes liable for any lack of conformity of the goods which becomes evident within a period of 3 years as from the date of their delivery to the consumer;
the law expressly regulates the supply of digital services and contents;
a separation is made between the regime applicable to movable and immovable assets, with the professional becoming liable in respect of the latter for any lack of conformity which becomes evident within a period of 10 years in the case of structural building elements, and 5 years in the case of any other lack of conformity.
the law establishes a rejection right for any lack of conformity appearing within the 30 days following delivery of the goods, with the consumer in this case being able to request the immediate replacement of the goods or the termination of the agreement, with no need for the verification of any additional criteria;
voluntary warrantees remain, although with greater information obligations, and are now called “commercial warranties”; and
national legislation establishes a regime of joint and several liability of the platforms for the conformity of the goods made available by their contractual partners, provided that the platforms exercise a predominant influence in the execution of the contract.

The law comes into force on January 1, 2022.