Bid adieu to planned obsolescence: European Commission proposes ‘right to repair’ rules to curb e-waste

The European Commission (EC), on Wednesday, March 22, adopted a new proposal on new rules that promote the repair of goods, thereby reducing e-waste. 

The recent proposal seeks to establish rules that will facilitate consumers to repair their goods instead of replacement, resulting in significant savings for them. 

Parallely, the initiative will also support the objectives of the European Green Deal, focused on reducing waste and promoting sustainability, says the European Commission. 

‘Replacement’ on the rise

In recent years, the replacement has become the preferred option for many consumers whenever products become defective. Insufficient incentives have also been given to consumers to repair their goods when the legal guarantee expires. 

This trend has resulted in a significant amount of waste and has harmed the environment. 

The European Commission has identified this issue and has developed a proposal to tackle the problem.

New proposal’s benefits

According to European Commission, the new proposal will make it easier and more cost-effective for consumers to repair their goods instead of replacing them. By making repair more accessible and affordable, the proposal will help to reduce the environmental impact of consumer goods.

In addition to benefiting consumers, the proposal will also boost the repair sector. Increased demand for repair services will create more jobs and promote the growth of the repair industry, says European Commission. 

This initiative will incentivise producers and sellers to develop more sustainable business models. 

The recent proposal of the European Commission aims to ensure that more products are repaired within the legal guarantee and that consumers have easier and cheaper options to repair technically repairable products (such as vacuum cleaners, or soon tablets and smartphones).

The proposal introduces a new ‘right to repair’ for consumers, both within and beyond the legal guarantee. 

Within the legal guarantee, sellers will be required to offer repair, except when it is more expensive than replacement. 

Beyond the legal guarantee, a new set of rights and tools will be available to consumers to make ‘repair’ an easy and accessible option. They are:

• A right for consumers to claim repair to producers, for products that are technically repairable under EU law, like a washing machine or a TV. This will ensure that consumers always have someone to turn to when they opt to repair their products, as well as encourage producers to develop more sustainable business models.
• A producer’s obligation is to inform consumers about the products that they are obliged to repair themselves.
• An online matchmaking repair platform to connect consumers with repairers and sellers of refurbished goods in their area. The platform will enable searches by location and quality standards, helping consumers find attractive offers, and boosting visibility for repairers.
• A European Repair Information Form which consumers will be able to request from any repairer, bringing transparency to repair conditions and price, and making it easier for consumers to compare repair offers.
• A European quality standard for repair services will be developed to help consumers identify repairers who commit to a higher quality. This ‘easy repair’ standard will be open to all repairers across the EU willing to commit to minimum quality standards, for example, based on the duration, or availability of products.