In the United States, the rights and remedies of buyers and sellers of goods are governed by the Article 2 of Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) as it has been adopted with variations from state to state. The UCC governs both express and implied warranties. It also covers the extent to which sellers may disclaim certain types of warranties (e.g., warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, or even disclaim all warranties in the case of goods sold "as is."

Whereas in the U.S. warranties are generally provided in writing subject to control of the laws, in other countries warranties may be governed by specific statutes. For example, a country's law may provide that goods are assured by the seller for a period of 12 months and may provide other specific rights and remedies in the event of a product failure. However, even in the U.S. there are specific laws that may provide warranties or warranty-like assurances to buyers. For example, many states have statutory warranties on new home construction, and many have so-called "lemon laws" governing new motor vehicles with repeated defects.