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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Consumer Guarantees Act 1993

Guarantees in respect of supply of goods

8: Guarantees as to fitness for particular purpose

You could also call this:

“Products must work for what you want to use them for”

When you buy something, the person or shop selling it to you makes some promises about the item. One of these promises is about how well the item will work for what you want to use it for.

If you tell the seller what you want to use the item for, they promise that it will work well for that purpose. Even if you don’t say it out loud, but the seller can guess what you want it for, they still make this promise.

The seller also promises that the item will work well for any purpose they say it will. For example, if they tell you a toy is good for playing in water, it should be able to do that.

However, these promises don’t apply in two situations. First, if you don’t trust the seller’s knowledge or judgment about the item. Second, if it wouldn’t make sense for you to trust what the seller says about the item.

These promises apply even if you want to use the item for something unusual. It doesn’t have to be a common use for the item.

If the item doesn’t work as promised, you have the right to ask the seller to fix the problem. The details of what you can do are explained in Part 2 of this law.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM312809.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
Business > Fair trading
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7B: Relationship of section 7A with rest of Act, or

“How section 7A works with the rest of the Consumer Guarantees Act”

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9: Guarantee that goods comply with description, or

“Sellers must make sure what you buy matches how it was described”

Part 1 Guarantees in respect of supply of goods

8Guarantees as to fitness for particular purpose

  1. Subject to section 41, the following guarantees apply where goods are supplied to a consumer:

  2. that the goods are reasonably fit for any particular purpose that the consumer makes known, expressly or by implication, to the supplier as the purpose for which the goods are being acquired by the consumer; and
    1. that the goods are reasonably fit for any particular purpose for which the supplier represents that they are or will be fit.

      1. Those guarantees do not apply where the circumstances show that—

      2. the consumer does not rely on the supplier's skill or judgment; or
        1. it is unreasonable for the consumer to rely on the supplier's skill or judgment.

          1. This section applies whether or not the purpose is a purpose for which the goods are commonly supplied.

          2. Part 2 gives the consumer a right of redress against the supplier where the goods fail to comply with any guarantee in this section.

          Compare
          • 1908 No 168 s 16(a)
          • 1971 No 147 s 13