One product or a spare part usedmay be qualified as a ‘repackaged product’ or be accompanied by the term ‘repackaged’, only if the following conditions are met:

• The product or spare part has undergone testing of all its features in order to establish that he answers:
  
  • To statutory safety requirements
  • The use which the consumer can legitimately expect (e.g. battery that charges normally and has sufficient battery life).
• And, where relevant, the product or spare part has undergone one or more interventions to restore its functionalities (e.g. faulty camera replaced on smartphone, used battery replaced on laptop, etc.). This includes the deletion of any data saved or retained in connection with a previous use or user, before the product or part changes ownership.

The expressions "new condition", "as new", "as new" or any equivalent term are forbidden in the case of products or spare parts which are qualified as ‘repackaged products’ or are accompanied by the words ‘repackaged’.

As with the sale of any good or service, the seller must communicate certain pre-contractual information to the consumer before any sale of repackaged products:

• Essential characteristics of the good or service, including the functionality, compatibility and interoperability of the good with digital components, and the existence of any software installation restrictions
• Price (or, if any, any other benefit provided in lieu of or in addition to the payment of a price)
• In the absence of immediate execution of the sale (e.g. in the case of distance selling), the date or time limit by which the trader undertakes to deliver the product
• Information relating to the identity of the trader, his postal, telephone and electronic details and his activities, in so far as this is not apparent from the context
• Existence and conditions for the implementation of legal guarantees, including the legal guarantee of conformity and the legal guarantee of hidden defects, and any commercial guarantees, as well as, where applicable, after-sales service and information related to other contractual conditions
• The possibility of using a consumer ombudsman in the event of a dispute.

For more information, the Ministry of Economy provides a page specifying more precisely the contractual information to be mentioned:

Pre-contractual information

Ministry of Economy

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The seller must provide the consumer with information concerning the spare parts availability essential for the use of reconditioned goods sold and the period during which these parts are available on the market. This information concerning spare parts shall appear on any commercial document or on any durable support accompanying the sale of the products.

The manufacturer or importer of the goods shall provide the sellers with this information, so that it provides them to consumers. If these items are not supplied to the sellers, the spare parts must be considered as unavailable.

In general, spare parts should remain available for 5 years after the date of placing on the national market of the last new unit of the model concerned, for:

• Laptops (excluding tablets, slates, and mobile thin clients)
• Smartphones (multifunction mobile phones)
• Electric bikes, treadmills, rowers, elliptical or stationary bikes
• Motorized personal transport equipment (electric scooters, gyropods and hoverboards).

This period of availability is 10 years for motorized do-it-yourself and garden tools, including high-pressure cleaners

The following legal guarantees apply when selling repackaged products:

• Legal assurance of compliance during 12 months (legal duration for second-hand goods): in case of lack of conformity (e.g. bad color, item powered by sector instead of wireless, etc.), the consumer has the right to bring the goods into conformity by repair or replacement or, if this is not possible, to reduce the price (partial refund) or to cancel the sale (full refund and return of the product)
• Guarantee of hidden defects during 2 years : hidden defects are the hidden defects of the product sold that make it unsuitable for the use for which it is intended, or that reduce this use so much that the consumer would not have acquired it (e.g. smartphone having a very low battery life, without this having been mentioned to the consumer). The consumer has the choice of returning the product and getting a full refund, or keeping it and getting a portion of the price back. If the seller knew of the defects in the product, he may be obliged to pay damages to the consumer.

To learn more, the Ministry of Economy published an article on legal guarantees:

Legal guarantees

Ministry of Economy

Pour en savoir plus

Of commercial guarantees can be added to these mandatory warranties by the seller's choice (e.g. replacement of the product in the event of failure within 2 years of purchase). If they exist, they must also be mentioned to the consumer.