Throughout the EU, warranties are covered by Directive 1999/44/EC. According to this Directive, the seller shall be liable to the consumer for any defects that exist at the time the goods were delivered following a sale. In other words, the seller is liable for manufacturing defects and lacks of conformity with the sale terms (for example, if the seller sends you a product with different specifications than those advertised or agreed upon). The defects and the lack of conformity must become apparent within two years of the delivery date. This is called the statutory warranty period. Why does the law offer two years to discover this discrepancy? It’s because sometimes defects (or lack of conformity) are only obvious after a period of normal use.

Within these two years, consumers can request the seller to acknowledge the defects and/or the lack of conformity. As a consequence, the seller will have to repair, replace or refund the price of the product in question, following the process below:

• The seller must be notified of defects within two months as of their discovery.
• With some exceptions, defects that become apparent within six months of delivery are presumed to have existed at the moment of delivery (i.e. they were manufacturing defects). If the seller disagrees, it must prove through technical diagnosis that they were not manufacturing defects.
• After six months from delivery, defects that become apparent are no longer presumed to be manufacturing defects and thus the consumer has to prove they are.

Our replacement parts were specifically designed to work with the Fairphone 1 or 1(U), so please only use them to repair a Fairphone 1 or 1(U). Because of this, we may ask for your Fairphone’s serial number at the time of purchase or limit the number of components that you can purchase at our discretion.

The warranty is limited to component defects or lack of conformity. It doesn’t cover damage to your Fairphone 1 or 1(U) due to improper installation of components. In addition, it does not cover damage caused by falls, liquid spills and other kinds of accidental damage, before or after they were integrated into the Fairphone 1 or 1(U).

According to Directive 97/7/EC (to be replaced by Directive 2011/83/EU as of June 2014), you have 14 calendar days from the delivery date to withdraw from the contract without penalty and without giving any reason. This means that you should send us back the Fairphone 1 or 1(U) component and we will refund you within maximum 30 days since we received the component.

Please also keep in mind that the Fairphone 1 or 1(U) components are very complex and sensitive products (for instance, the PCB, the LED flash assembly, the camera module). You might cause damage to them even by removing the seal and taking them out of their original package, so be sure to treat them with extra care. Sometimes damage can be caused by things that you could not even be aware of – like electrostatic discharges, which can happen when and where you least expect it and permanently damage the components. In case the component was damaged because of you (either intentionally or accidentally) we might refuse to take it back or apply additional costs/conditions.

You will be liable for the diminished value of the components that results from you handling them in another manner than what is necessary to establish their nature, characteristics and functioning (in order to understand this, think how you would test them in a shop before buying them).

To initiate a return, please contact customer support here.

As mentioned above, manufacturing defects of components or lack of conformity with the sale terms must be existing at the time when they were delivered to you. The law gives you the right to hold us liable for these things in case they become apparent within the statutory period of two years, but you need to notify us within two months since you discovered them.

When you notify us regarding the discovered defect (please do that as soon as possible, but no later than 2 months since you discovered them), we are going to provide instructions on how/if you need to send us back the component.

Once we receive the component, our technical experts are going to diagnose the cause of the defect. We will notify you about the results of this diagnosis.

If it shows that the component you received had a manufacturing defect, we will repair it or replace it and fix the caused damages, free of charge (including postage & shipping). We will give you back the money when these two options are not possible. Normal wear and tear are not covered.

If the damage is your responsibility (as shown by the technical expertise or as notified by you), we will happily repair, replace or refund the component.

For the applicable procedure, please contact customer support here.

You should repair your Fairphone 1 or 1(U) by yourself only when you know for sure that the damage is not due to a manufacturing defect (in other words, only when your Fairphone 1 or 1(U) is out of warranty). If you have doubts about this, please contact us before you purchase the component or start repairing your Fairphone 1 or 1(U), so we can help and guide you.

This is because there is a high risk that during a replacement you cause damage to your Fairphone 1 or 1(U) or the component and then you will lose your warranty both for the component and for the Fairphone (we will assess that on a case by case basis based on technical diagnosis).

Also, please be aware that sometimes a component may not function properly not because it is defective, but because of other causes like software issues. Therefore, replacing it might not solve your problem. If you have doubts about why a specific part of your Fairphone 1 or 1(U) does not work properly, please contact us.

The iFixit manuals for repairing your Fairphone were developed by iFixit in collaboration with us. Make sure that you fully understand how they work before you start repairing (for example, have a look at the available iFixit guidance, like the repair guide FAQs here).

The repair manuals are only informative documents meant to guide you through the repair process, so please be aware that in order to obtain the desired result, you will need some technical experience and skills. If you have any doubts and questions regarding the things contained by the manuals, please contact us before you make any repairs.

Since we only sell the Fairphone in Europe, we currently sell the Fairphone 1 or 1(U) spare parts only in Europe as well. Therefore the above is exclusively applicable for our customers located in Europe.

However if you own a Fairphone 1 or 1(U) and you are located outside Europe, you can still replace/repair Fairphone 1 or 1(U) spare parts. You can do this by providing a European address where we can ship the materials back to you. From this European address you are responsible to arrange shipment to your current location yourself.

For more information about the practical application of this section of the warranty, read about how Fairphone ships, repairs, and services its products.

* The Terms and Conditions apply to the purchase of Fairphone components so please read them carefully.

Version on 5 March 2015, applicable to consumers natural persons.