With the establishment of the Single Market the European Community has at last begun to have an impact on some of the core areas of commercial and consumer law. The European Commission has published proposals for a directive on the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees which, if adopted in its present form, will require further amendment to a central area of sale law which was the subject of domestic reform just two years ago. The purpose of this piece is to examine the proposals and to consider their likely impact should they be adopted