Tile Association flags EU GARAN label now in force for durability guarantees

The Tile Association has said the European Union's harmonised legal guarantee notice and GARAN durability label became mandatory across the EU on 27 September 2026, affecting UK tile firms whose supply chains involve the EU market.

The association said the rules do not apply in the UK itself, but that the change will affect tile manufacturers and distributors whose supply chains involve the EU market.

According to the Commission Implementing Regulation that fixes the design and content of the notice and label, Regulation (EU) 2025/1960 of 25 September 2025, the requirements apply from 27 September 2026.

The two documents

The harmonised notice sets out for consumers the main elements of the legal guarantee of conformity, the association said, in particular that every consumer in the EU benefits from at least two years of legal guarantee protection on consumer goods. Sellers must display it prominently.

The implementing regulation describes the harmonised notice as a mandatory point-of-sale notice intended to raise consumer awareness of legal guarantee rights. The European Commission's Your Europe guidance says that when printed it cannot be smaller than A4, and that it carries a scannable QR code taking consumers to further information on guarantees in their own language.

The GARAN label is different. It represents a commercial guarantee of durability expressed in years, offered voluntarily by the producer. According to the Tile Association, where that guarantee is free to the consumer, covers the entire good and lasts more than two years, use of the GARAN label becomes mandatory. The European Consumer Centre Spain, part of Spain's consumer ministry, likewise describes GARAN as a voluntary label on the commercial durability guarantee.

The Commission guidance adds that a printed label must be at least 95mm by 100mm and may be in colour or black and white. Producers may edit only three fields: the length of the guarantee in years, their brand or trademark, and the model ID so consumers can see which products are covered. A guarantee that covers only part of a product cannot use the label.

What producers must supply

The association said the label is a commitment that the good will keep its required functions and performance through normal use for the stated number of years, failing which the producer must repair or replace it at no cost.

Producers must also set out the exact terms of the commercial guarantee in a statement that includes a clear note that the consumer's legal right to free remedies from the seller is unaffected, the producer's name and address, the steps for using the guarantee, the goods covered and the conditions. That statement must reach the consumer in a durable form, such as paper or email, no later than delivery of the goods.

Producers are responsible for passing all relevant information on the durability guarantee to the seller, and may place the GARAN label directly on the good or on its packaging, the association said.

The legal background

The implementing regulation states that the notice and label stem from Directive 2011/83/EU as amended by Directive (EU) 2024/825, the directive of 28 February 2024 on empowering consumers for the green transition. That directive sets the label condition as a durability guarantee at no additional cost, covering the entire good, with a duration of more than two years.

The Commission's Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers published the regulation and its annexes on 25 September 2025.

The Tile Association describes itself as the single independent association for the whole UK tiling industry. Formed in January 2000, it now has more than 1,000 member business units.