§ 31. You must examine the goods after delivery

After the goods have been delivered, you must examine them as soon as you have a reasonable opportunity. "Good practice" in the trade decides how thoroughly. If the goods are sent on, you can wait until they have arrived at their final destination. If you skip the examination, you can lose the right to complain about faults you should have discovered.

The Sale of Goods Act (Kjøpsloven)·LOV-1988-05-13-27

Machine-translated from Norwegian. The Norwegian text is the one that applies. Read the original in Norwegian.Norsk English العربية Polski Українська

The text of the law (unofficial translation)

(1) After delivery, the buyer (kjøper) shall, as soon as he has a reasonable opportunity to do so under the circumstances, examine the goods as good practice requires.

(2) If it is apparent that the goods are to be transported from the place of delivery, the buyer may wait to examine them until they have arrived at the destination.

(3) If the buyer changes the destination while the goods are in transit, or sends them on without having had a reasonable opportunity to examine them, and the seller (selger) at the time of the purchase knew or ought to have known of the possibility of such redirection or forwarding, the examination may be postponed until the goods have arrived at the new destination.

Source: Lovdata — Kjøpsloven (the Sale of Goods Act) § 31

What does this mean?

The law requires an active buyer. You cannot just accept the goods, put them away and ignore them for months. You must examine them as soon as you have a reasonable chance — to discover any faults.

Main rule (first paragraph): "As soon as you have a reasonable opportunity" — usually within days of delivery. "Good practice" means the examination should be what is normal for such goods: open the package, check whether the item works, try the functions that can be tested.

Goods that are to be sent on (second paragraph): If the goods are obviously going to another place (you import something to resell, or order for a customer), you can wait until they have arrived there.

Redirection in transit (third paragraph): If you change the destination in transit — or send the goods on without having the chance to check them — and the seller knew this could happen, the examination can be postponed until the goods have arrived at the final destination.

Why is this important? If you do not examine the goods when you should, you can lose the right to complain about faults you should have seen (§ 32 on the deadline for complaints (reklamasjonsfrist)). The clock starts ticking when you should have discovered the fault — not when you actually did.

Examples

Lars orders tools for NOK 12,000. The package arrives, he puts it in the basement and forgets it. Three months later he opens it — two parts are broken. Under § 31, Lars should have examined the goods as soon as he had a reasonable chance — days after delivery (levering). The deadline for complaints in § 32 started to run then. Three months is probably too late — he "should have discovered" the fault long before he actually did.

Eva runs a small company that imports office furniture. She orders chairs from a supplier and sends them directly on to a customer in Bergen. The seller knew that Eva is a reseller. Under § 31 (3), Eva can postpone the examination until the chairs have arrived in Bergen. The deadline for complaints starts to run from that point, not from the delivery to Eva.

Common mistakes

  1. Leaving goods unopened in the basement for weeks
  2. Believing the deadline for complaints starts when you discover the fault — it starts when you should have discovered it
  3. Assuming that "good practice" means a light examination — it varies with the goods and the trade
  4. As a reseller: forgetting to inform the seller that the goods are to be sent on

What should you do?

When the goods have been delivered:

As a reseller:

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