EU could enforce a two-year guarantee for software

Consumers could get the same legal protection for software that they get for other goods under new proposals from the EU.

Commissioners Meglena Kuneva and Viviane Reding have called for software makers and companies to be made to take on more accountability for the products they offer to consumers.

They hope to extend the EU Sales and Guarantees directive that is incorporated into UK law as the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002.

Currently UK consumers are not protected by either the Sale and Supply of Goods Act or the Distance Selling Regulations when they buy software.

This is because software is not considered a ‘tangible moveable item’. Once the seal has been broken or a program downloaded, consumers can’t return software.

The buyer only has a case against a retailer if they have bought the software on a DVD or CD and the physical medium is damaged.

The commissioners have proposed that because of this lack of protection, software is a priority area for possible EU action.

Ms Kuneva, the EU consumer affairs commissioner, said consumer protection must be extended to cover “licensing agreements of products like software downloaded for virus protection, games or other licensed content.

"Licensing should guarantee consumers the same basic rights as when they purchase a good: the right to get a product that works with fair commercial conditions."

She argued that this would also give consumers more confidence when buying online.

"If we want consumers to shop around and exploit the potential of digital communications, then we need to give them confidence that their rights are guaranteed.

“That means putting in place and enforcing clear consumer rights that meet the high standards already existing in the main street,” she said.

But the plans, which form part of an ongoing EU review into consumer law, to harmonise laws between member states have not been welcomed by software developers.

Francisco Mingorance, senior director for public policy of the Business Software Alliance said extending the rules to cover digital content is unworkable.

“Digital content is not a tangible good and should not be subject to the same liability rules as toasters. Unlike tangible goods, creators of ‘digital content’ cannot predict with a high degree of certainty both the product’s anticipated uses and its potential performance.

He also warned the proposed extension could capture a virtually unlimited range of content including patches, updates and trial software.