French Consumer Law is a comprehensive and comparative overview of French and EU law in this field, covering: advertising, unfair commercial practices, conditions for the validity of contracts, unfair terms, product conformity, latent defects, product safety.

French Consumer Law

The warranty against latent defects is only applicable if the defect renders the thing unfit for its intended use or considerably reduces this use. The existence of a defect is assessed in a relative manner and implies, upstream, determining what the objective intended purpose of the thing should be in a normal state of operation .
Thus, the normal intended purpose of a car is to be driven  on the …

Normal use

The warranty against latent defects is only applicable if the defect renders the thing unfit for its intended use or considerably reduces this use. The existence of a defect is assessed in a relative manner and implies, upstream, determining what the objective intended purpose of the thing should be in a normal state of operation .

Thus, the normal intended purpose of a car is to be driven  on the entire road network . Even if it can be driven normally, the restriction on the possibility to resell a vehicle purchased second-hand which has suffered an accidence constitutes a hidden defect which affects the use . However, the fact that the vehicle pollutes , is affected by a slight discomfort of vibrations or abnormal wear of the tires , is not taken into account. The buyer of a vehicle with a low administrative horsepower also cannot complain of a hidden defect in the driving qualities of the vehicle . It was held that a motor home is normally designed for temporary or seasonal use for recreational purposes  and a dump truck for the transport of heavy materials on construction sites , a quad is to travel in uneven ground  , the purpose of a coating is to protect a surface , that of concrete to offer guarantees of solidity  , that of a gate to ensure the hermetic closure of a property  and that of a tile to decorate a room . A portable computer must be sufficiently autonomous , a mobile phone must be capable of viewing videos , a compact disc must operate on all CD-ROM drives , and an air handling box must prevent the penetration of particles carrying pathogenic germs .

Although the normal use of the thing allows the buyer to act against his seller when this use is altered, it can also, in certain cases, constitute a means of defense for the seller. This is the case where the purchaser has made abnormal or inappropriate use of the thing , in particular contrary to the manufacturer's instructions  or its advice not to use the thing for this type of use . Nor is the warranty enforceable due when the buyer has not informed his seller of the particular use he intends to make of the thing  - unless the absence of defect would not have made the product unsuitable for this specific purpose . The warranty is thus excluded when the purchaser does not inform the seller of the intended use of the product in the food industry, and when the general conditions of sale on the confirmation form state that “our products are of standard industrial quality, unless otherwise stipulated” and that “the purchaser must ensure that the product is compatible with the intended use” . In effect, the seller is only bound by a warranty against latent defects affecting an unusual use of the thing sold if he has accepted this use, which presupposes that he has been informed of it by the buyer . On the other hand, the use of the thing for purposes for which it was not designed does not preclude the exercise of the warranty action, when it was neither prohibited nor discouraged by the manufacturer and is not the cause of the disorders . 

 However, it was held that the buyer's opinion of the vehicle, its reliability and prospects for resale at the time of purchase are part of the use of the vehicle within the meaning of Article 1641 of the Civil Code, see Colmar, 7 May 2012, LawLex201200001549JBJ.

  CA Rouen, 9 June 2010, LawLex201200001874JBJ: disorders affecting an automatic gearbox, an exhaust catalyst and the front axles are latent defects when they are elements essential to the driving character of a motor vehicle; CA Lyon, 14 January 2011, LawLex201200001708JBJ; 10 May 2012, LawLex201200001633JBJ; CA Rouen, 30 January 2013, LawLex201300000316JBJ.

  Cass. 3e civ., 28 June 1995, LawLex200400003436JBJ, concerning a coating overly sensitive to water.

  CA Montpellier, 13 March 2012, LawLex201200001644JBJ.

 CA  Bourges, 12 December 2013, LawLex201400000425JBJ, holding that paint disorders do not constitute a defect making a portal unfit for its intended purpose.

 CA Douai, 23 May 2011, LawLex201200001909JBJ.

 CA Paris, 18 October 2007, LawLex201200001896JBJ.

 CA Paris, 27 May 2010, LawLex201200001901JBJ.

 CA Paris TGI, 10 January 2006, LawLex200600001049JBJ.

  Cass. 3e civ., 15 March 2006, LawLex200600002014JBJ.

  Cass. com., 3 January 1991, LawLex200500005453JBJ: use of a cleaning product for washing floors to clean machines; 9 July 1996, LawLex200500005022JBJ.

  CA Paris, 11 September 1995, LawLex200500005587JBJ; CA Pau, 22 November 2010, LawLex201200001779JBJ: conversely, the use of a vehicle described in the description sheet as an all-terrain and versatile vehicle on the waterfront does not constitute abnormal use of that vehicle; CA Pau, 29 November 2013, LawLex201400000452JBJ, failure to comply with manufacturer's recommendations for vehicles not to drive at more than 65 km/h.

 CA  Pau, 17 August 2011, LawLex201200001691JBJ, concerning a vehicle that cannot drive in mountain areas or in cities on roads fitted with speed bumps.

  CA Aix-en-Provence, 19 December 1995, LawLex200500004254JBJ.

  Cass. com., 16 December 1997, LawLex200500004354JBJ, upholding CA Angers, 18 October 1994, LawLex200400001713JBJ: the insufficient buoyancy of metal profiles does not constitute a hidden defect in view of their normal use as rolling shutters for doors and windows, when the buyer has not informed the seller of the particular use he intended to make of them. See also CA Pau, 3 October 2012, LawLex201300000239JBJ; CA Rennes, 23 February 2016, LawLex201600000505JBJ, holding that the professional buyer who orders thermo-lacquered sheets of steel without informing the seller that they will be used outside in a saline environment, cannot bring an action on the basis of the warranty against latent defects due to the subsequent appearances of traces of rust; CA Lyon, 27 September 2018, LawLex201800001439JBJ, assembly of products supplied by the manufacturer with other components for installation on equipment for which they are not designed, without notifying the manufacturer of such use.

 Cass. com., 17 May 1994, LawLex200500005010JBJ.

Cass. com. 29 March 2023, LawLex202300004674JBJ.

CA Angers, 3 October 2023, LawLex202300012178JBJ, considering that the gravel spreader, which, in its function linked to the use of the articulated arm, is only unsuitable for the use made of it by the purchaser, i.e. use in motion which, in order to maintain a constant forward speed during the work phase, is not impaired by a latent defect giving rise to a warranty against latent defects on the part of the seller, since such a defect is assessed on the basis of the normal use of the item, and not on the basis of an unusual use.

 CA Dijon, 28 April 2016, LawLex201600000927JBJ.

 Cass. 1re civ., 11 December 2013, LawLex201400000354JBJ. See also CA Colmar, 7 May 2012, LawLex201200001549JBJ.

 CA  Reims, 29 August 2005, LawLex200600001712JBJ.

 CA Aix-en-Provence, 9 June 2011, LawLex201200001668JBJ.

 CA Metz, 18 May 2011, LawLex201200001673JBJ.

 CA Pau, 31 May 2011, LawLex201200001695JBJ.

 CA Bordeaux, 25 January 2012, LawLex201200001667JBJ. See also CA Bastia, 11 January 2012, LawLex201200001654JBJ; CA Caen, 4 October 2012, LawLex201300000221JBJ.

  CA Toulouse, 10 April 2012, LawLex201200001555JBJ.

By stating that the warranty is applicable when there is a defect rendering the thing unsuitable for its intended use, Article 1641 of the Civil Code implies that it is intended for an objective use, assessed in abstracto . Nevertheless, nothing prevents the parties from agreeing on a particular use of the thing. The purchaser who invokes the unsuitability of the thing for the agreed use must then prove that this use has entered the contractual sphere. Indeed, the seller cannot be required to guarantee a particular use he was unaware of.

In the automotive field, courts have refused the finding of latent defects in the case of structural deformations which affect a vehicle when the parties have agreed on its use as a collector car . In the case of real estate property, land which is found to be unsuitable for its intended use, namely construction, is affected by a hidden defect , as well as a property infested with wood-eating insects which renders it unfit for the architectural project for which the buyer intended to use it . In addition, the unsuitability of a hydraulic coating with the thermal constraints allows the buyer to take action against the seller when it is precisely intended to isolate facades exposed to solar radiation . The unsuitability of a machine  or cork stoppers  for their intended technical and contractual purpose allows the buyer to act against his seller. Similarly, the tiling of a parquet that alters its appearance on its entire surface and which is uncomfortable to walk on with bare feet makes it unfit for its intended purpose when it was chosen by the buyer due to its technical characteristics but also for its aesthetic character .

 Cass. 1re civ., 24 November 1993, LawLex200500004986JBJ, upholding CA Paris, 6 November 1991, LawLex200500010070JBJ; Cass. 1re civ.,  22 April 1997, LawLex200500005027JBJ.

 CA Nîmes, 6 May 2003, LawLex200700000525JBJ.

 CA Bordeaux, 27 October 2005, LawLex200600001764JBJ.

 On the galvanization of steel boxes unfit to protect them from corrosion, CA Rouen, 23 March 2016, LawLex201600000720JBJ.

 CA Versailles, 22 October 2009, LawLex201200001815JBJ: sealing defect of the engine; 19 May 2011, LawLex201200001672JBJ: sealing defect of the injector connections; CA Lyon, 17 November 2011, LawLex201200001892JBJ, concerning a camper van; 10 May 2012, LawLex201200001633JBJ; CA Montpellier, 13 September 2012, LawLex201300000208JBJ.

 CA Montpellier, 12 February 2013, LawLex201300000306JBJ: sealing defect in the hull/deck connection, affecting the insubmersibility of the hull of a ship. Cf. CA Caen, 7 December 2010, LawLex201200001879JBJ: considering that the sealing defect of a ship's battery compartment is not a redhibitory defect when no incidents occurred during its journeys and that it therefore does not prevent the normal use of the vessel and Cass. 1re civ., 26 May 2011, LawLex201200001461JBJ, holding that the defect affecting a boat, which finds its cause in the twist of a linkage allowing water to enter the tube of the starboard rudder, is not of a nature to make the boat unfit for the use for which it was intended, when it is naturally dried by the coupled pumps.

 Cass. 3e civ., 27 September 2000, LawLex200500004356JBJ; 25 May 2004, LawLex200500003834JBJ; 6 October 2004, LawLex200400003425JBJ.

French Consumer Law

596. Normal use

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596. Normal use

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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