The EU reached political agreement on 2nd February on the Right to Repair Directive. The new law will establish obligations for manufacturers to repair common household products including washing machines, vacuum cleaners and mobile phones, both within and beyond the legal guarantee. It is anticipated that the list of products will be extended in future through secondary eco-design regulations.
The new law aims to incentivise repair over replacement by making it easier and more cost-effective for consumers to have products repaired. Amongst the incentives is the introduction of an extended 12-month warranty for repaired goods if a product is found to be defective within the legal guarantee period. Once the legal guarantee has expired, consumers will be able to request easier and cheaper repair of defects, with manufacturers being required to publish information about their repair services, including indicative costs and the ability to borrow a substitute during repair or opt for a refurbished replacement.
The directive also introduces new obligations on producers to ensure access to spare parts and tools for independent repairers, remanufacturers, refurbishers and end-users.
EU Member States will have 24 months to transpose the directive into national law following publication in the Official Journal, which is expected later this year.
The UK introduced a right to repair law in July 2021, however the list of products included is more limited than that set out in the new EU Directive and does not include mobile phones or computers. The UK Government is currently consulting on changes to its producer responsibility system for waste electrical and electronic waste, which could see modulated fees for products that are easy to re-use, repair or recycle and a penalty for those that are not.
Photo by Dan Cristian Paduret on Unsplash.