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EU product guarantee: why PIM will become essential from 2026
New product guarantee information in the EU: a compliance challenge… and a data management one
The European Union is strengthening consumer information requirements as part of its green transition agenda. With Directive (EU) 2024/825, a new framework now applies to guarantee-related information for goods sold to consumers. Member States must transpose the Directive by 27 March 2026 at the latest, with the new rules applying from 27 September 2026. (EUR-Lex)
Behind this regulatory development lies a very practical challenge for brands, manufacturers and distributors: how can you update thousands of product sheets quickly and reliably, without disrupting existing business workflows? These requirements were further clarified by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1960, adopted by the Commission on 25 September 2025, which sets out the design and content rules for the harmonised notice and the harmonised label. (European Commission)
What exactly are the harmonised notice and the harmonised label?
The harmonised notice is a standardised reminder of the legal guarantee of conformity. It is mandatory and is designed to clearly inform consumers of their rights, including the existence of a legal guarantee of at least two years. The European Commission has stated that, online, this notice must be displayed prominently on sales interfaces. (European Commission)
The harmonised label, by contrast, relates to the commercial guarantee of durability. It applies where a producer offers, at no additional cost, a guarantee covering the entire product for more than two years. In that case, the label must be displayed clearly so that consumers can easily identify the products concerned. (European Commission)
These two measures fall within the B2C framework and reflect the EU’s wider ambition to support more sustainable consumption and improve consumer information. Their format is tightly regulated, including the presence of a QR code. In the case of the label, only certain elements may be adapted, such as the guarantee period or product identification details (EUR-Lex)
Why this is a mission-critical issue for PIM
At first glance, this evolution may seem purely regulatory. In reality, it directly impacts product data governance.
To be ready by 27 September 2026, companies must be able to identify the affected references, distinguish between the legal guarantee and the commercial guarantee of durability, add or complete the necessary attributes, and then distribute the correct information across all channels. As soon as a catalogue exceeds a few hundred references, manual updates are no longer a reliable option.
This is precisely where PIM becomes strategic. It enables companies to centralise product attributes, segment relevant items, and orchestrate enrichments. Without this level of control, businesses often find their data scattered across ERPs, Excel files, and manual CMS entries, leading to high risks of errors, inconsistencies, or delays in compliance. This need for standardisation and harmonised presentation is precisely what the new European framework is designed to address.
The real challenge: bulk updates without breaking business workflows
The task isn’t just about adding new text or a visual to product sheets. The real challenge is doing so without undermining the processes already in place.
In most organisations, product workflows are already structured around enrichment, validation, translation, and multi-channel syndication cycles. A new regulatory requirement should not force teams to rebuild their data models or bypass established business rules.
A well-architected PIM approach allows these constraints to be absorbed seamlessly: through the creation of dedicated attributes, bulk updates of product families, automated completeness checks, and conditional distribution by channel. The goal is not just to be compliant, but to make compliance compatible with day-to-day product data management.
“The goal is not just compliance in itself, but compliance that works in harmony with the day-to-day management of product data.”
An often overlooked point: producer-distributor coordination
Implementing the harmonised label is not just a matter of display. It is also a matter of collecting, structuring and validating data. The Compliance & Risks analysis highlights that the label must be displayed when the producer provides the seller with durability guarantee information. In practice, that means the quality of implementation depends directly on a company’s ability to integrate producer-supplied data correctly and link it to the right products within internal repositories. (Compliance & Risks)
OxyCare: strong foundations already in place to absorb this type of change quickly
The OxyCare case study perfectly illustrates the value of a structured product repository in the face of such requirements. OxyCare transformed an initially manual e-commerce site into a structured international strategy (6,000 products, 6 languages, 10 countries).
Within three years, the company expanded its catalogue to more than 6,000 products, extended its presence to 6 languages and 10 countries, and improved its organic traffic thanks to better-structured product data. This does not in itself confirm that OxyCare has already deployed the harmonised notice and harmonised label across all channels.
What it does show, however, is that OxyCare already has the right foundations in place to adapt more quickly to this kind of regulatory change: a structured catalogue, centralised data, industrialised distribution processes, and the ability to evolve product information at scale.
That is what makes the difference when new obligations arise. The most mature organisations do not have to start from scratch. They rely on existing data governance to integrate change without slowing the business down.
What businesses need to anticipate now
Even though the September 2026 deadline may still seem some way off, the work needs to start now.
- Data localisation: Where is guarantee information currently sit? In the ERP? In supplier documents? In technical sheets? In contracts? Or in Excel files?
- Data model: Can it clearly distinguish between the legal guarantee of conformity and the commercial durability guarantee, and identify the relevant products?
- Distribution: Do your current channels allow for easy integration of these new harmonised elements, online and otherwise, without manual rework or heavy technical development? These questions are becoming central as the European Union harmonises information requirements to make consumer rights more readable and comparable. (European Commission)
Turning a regulatory requirement into a controlled process
The arrival of the harmonised notice and harmonised label confirms a broader trend: the product sheet is no longer just a marketing asset. It is also becoming a tool for compliance, transparency and consumer reassurance.
In this context, PIM is not simply about centralising information. It becomes the engine that enables new regulatory requirements to be embedded into a reliable, scalable operational process that remains fully compatible with existing business workflows.
For businesses managing complex catalogues, the challenge is no longer just publishing complete product sheets. It is about being able to update them quickly, at scale and securely, without operational disruption. That is the real difference between being forced to react to a new regulation and having an organisation capable of absorbing it efficiently.
Need to prepare your catalogue for upcoming EU compliance?
FAQ : EU product guarantees & PIM
Compliance with Directive (EU) 2024/825 depends on the ability to structure and distribute harmonised labels at scale. PIM software can automate the insertion of the harmonised notice and the harmonised label across thousands of product sheets at once, avoiding human error and delays in compliance.
The harmonised label is a standardised visual label at European level. It is mandatory for all products covered by a commercial durability guarantee of more than two years offered by the producer at no additional cost. This label must be displayed prominently on online sales interfaces and physical media.
Companies must be compliant by 27 September 2026 at the latest. This date marks the mandatory application of the new regulatory framework on harmonised guarantee information across the European Union. Member States must have transposed the directive by 27 March 2026.
MaPS System lets you create dedicated new attributes, bulk-update the product families concerned and automate completeness checks. Thanks to its unified approach, the platform ensures that the right guarantee information is distributed consistently across all your channels (e-commerce, marketplaces, print) without breaking your existing business workflows.
