Recital 6

(6)Union rules applicable to the sales of goods are still fragmented, although rules on delivery conditions and, as regards distance or off-premises contracts, pre-contractual information requirements and the right of withdrawal have already been fully harmonised by Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ³ . Other key contractual elements, such as the conformity criteria, the remedies for a lack of conformity with the contract and the main modalities for their exercise, are currently subject to minimum harmonisation under Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁴ . Member States have been allowed to go beyond the Union standards and introduce or maintain rules that ensure that an even higher level of consumer protection is achieved. In doing so, they have acted on different elements and to different extents. Thus, national provisions transposing Directive 1999/44/EC significantly diverge today on essential elements, such as the absence or existence of a hierarchy of remedies.