Legal Guarantee Label in Your Shopify Shop: Mandatory, Not Optional – But the GARAN-Label Is
Starting September 27, 2026, a new labeling requirement will apply across the entire EU for consumer goods: the legal manufacturer guarantee label and, where applicable, the commercial guarantee label, also known as the Garan-Label. It is based on EU Implementing Regulation 2025/1960. It affects every online shop selling goods to consumers in the EU, including Shopify merchants. Anyone who takes no action by the deadline risks warning letters (Abmahnungen) from competitors and consumer protection associations.
Two labels, two purposes
The legal guarantee label informs customers about their statutory rights regarding defects when purchasing goods. It is mandatory for practically every B2C sale of goods in the EU, whether new or used. Exempt are digital products, pure services, and B2B transactions.
The commercial guarantee label is only added if a manufacturer voluntarily grants an additional durability guarantee beyond the statutory legal guarantee.
Legal guarantee label and commercial guarantee label: clearly separated
The legal guarantee label is static. Content and design are fixed; you only choose the appropriate language version. At GARAN-Label.com, all 24 EU language versions of the legal guarantee label are available for free download as PDF and PNG in a .zip file. It is important that the language version matches the respective shop language.
The commercial guarantee label, on the other hand, is individual per product. Here you enter the item number, manufacturer, and warranty duration.
If you need many of these labels, you can use the (paid) service from GARAN-Label.com.
For both labels: colors, wording, and layout are prescribed EU-wide and must not be altered.
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The QR code really has to be scannable
One point that is often underestimated in practice: the QR code on the legal guarantee label must be readable under normal lighting conditions with a standard smartphone. If the label is displayed too small, embedded at poor resolution, or distorted by a theme, the code no longer works. In that case, the label fails to serve its purpose even if it is formally present.
The regulation leaves almost no room for design changes. If the label is missing, incorrectly embedded, or simply not findable, competition-law warning letters (Abmahnungen) can follow starting September 27, 2026.
Four steps for implementation in Shopify
1. Embed the legal guarantee label. Place the label on the product page or clearly visible on the way to checkout, for example in the cart. What matters is that customers see it before completing the purchase, without having to search for it.
2. Check which products have a manufacturer’s guarantee. Go through your product range and determine for which items the manufacturer grants an additional durability guarantee. The commercial guarantee label is only relevant for these products.
3. Create the commercial guarantee label. For products with a manufacturer’s guarantee, you need an individual commercial guarantee label with item number, manufacturer, and warranty duration. Services such as garan-label.com create these labels in the prescribed format, including the QR code.
4. Embed the labels in the shop. For a small number of products, the label can be added manually to each product page. For larger product ranges, a CSV-based import is recommended, for example via the Shopify app Matrixify, which allows image and metafield assignments to be managed for many products at once.
In any case, make sure that the QR code remains large and sharp enough in the final display to be scanned easily with a smartphone. Testing across multiple screen sizes and devices is advisable.
There is still time until September 27, 2026 to correctly integrate the new labels into your Shopify shop. Planning now avoids time pressure later and the risk of a warning letter. If you need support with the technical implementation in your shop, feel free to contact us.