New Consumer Purchase Act: Easier to complain about errors on mobile phones and digital services

A lot has happened with the development of the technical gadgets that we as consumers buy, such as mobile phones and other things compared to 1990, the year when the Consumer Purchase Act we got used to came into force. The new version of the Consumer Purchase Act, which came into force on 1 May, addresses a whole range of benefits for you as a consumer, this time both in terms of physical gadgets and digital services and goods.

Extended reverse burden of proof

An example of a major change with the new law has to do with complaints. Previously, defects and problems that arise in a product have been seen as original if they arose within six months of the purchase, while the origin of defects that arise after six months must be proven by the buyer. This “reverse burden of proof” is now extended to two years, where the burden of proof lies with the seller who must prove that the error is not original.

If you have bought a mobile phone that stops working after one and a half years after your purchase, it is therefore on the person you bought the product that the error is not original. The possibility of complaining about a product is still three years with the beginning of proof from the buyer during the third year.

Update requirements & digital services

What is also new is that individual provision of digital content or digital service has a reversed burden of proof for one year. This means that you get the opportunity to complain about software or streaming services in a new way that has not been possible before.

As an example, the long and difficult-to-read agreements presented digitally before starting a service, where companies disclaim most things, can lose their weight. Another part of the new Consumer Purchase Act is the requirement that the seller must offer updates that are necessary for a product or service to be in accordance with the original agreement. Examples are computers and mobile phones, with mandatory deliveries of security updates.

The updated Consumer Purchase Act came into force on 1 May 2022 and covers trade from the same date. The organization Sweden’s consumers believes that the new law will lead to more consumers being right in disputes, at the same time as the incentives to produce goods of higher quality increase among manufacturers.