1. What is the Right to Repair and what is the situation at the EU level?
A universal Right to Repair entails that consumers are entitled to repairs of their device by producers as well as getting access to abundant and cheap parts to repair it themselves beyond the legal guarantee. This also includes good design and consumer education on the possibilities of repair.
In Europe, a universal Right to Repair is not reality yet. The ‘right to repair’ initiative was announced in the New Consumer Agenda and the Circular Economy Action Plan, and it resulted in Proposal for a Directive on common rules promoting the repair of goods and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394, Directives (EU) 2019/771 and (EU) 2020/1828. It tackles obstacles that discourage consumers to repair due to inconvenience, lack of transparency or difficult access to repair services. It therefore encourages repair as a more sustainable consumption choice, which contributes to the climate and environmental objectives under the European Green Deal.
At the end of October, the Proposal was substantially improved by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament and now contains a solid ban on anti-repair practices, a comprehensive new obligation to repair outside the legal guarantee, a priority to repair within the legal guarantee, and a right to access to information and parts to everyone, but only for the products already covered by the ecodesign regulation, which include lighting products, electronic displays, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, windows, and insulation materials.1 This list leaves out a lot of products that are not easily repairable, and most of all Information Communication Technologies and their components, which are responsible for e-waste, the fastest growing streams of waste.2
2. Why should we have the Right to Repair our devices and why is it important for a more sustainable digitalisation process?
Repairing is a fundamental step towards a more circular economy, as discarded products are often viable goods that can be repaired but are often tossed prematurely, resulting in 35 million tons of waste, 30 million tons of resources and 261 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU every year.3 Repairing is especially fundamental for products that have a huge waste footprint, such as electronic devices. Indeed, the European Environmental Bureau reports that up to 4.8 million tonnes of electronic waste are improperly disposed of every year.4
Environmental reasons to repair are also reinforced by economic reasons: the loss for consumers of opting for replacements instead of repair is estimated at almost 12 billion euros per year. Additionally, a more universal Right to Repair is set to bring 4.8 billion euros in growth and investment in the EU. For consumers, the Right to Repair tackles obstacles that discourage consumers to repair due to inconvenience, lack of transparency, or difficult access to repair services.
3. Why is the universal Right to Repair not a reality yet?
There are several barriers to the Right to Repair, of different type. In our research with the Digitalisation Team, we have identified two main legal barriers that were present up until October 2023:
A. Intellectual property rights as barriers to the diffusion of repair manuals
Under EU law, manufacturers are not required to provide technical information (such as manuals and service handbooks) to consumers, nor are they required to provide consumers with spare parts. Only professional repairers have a guaranteed right to access the technical information and the spare parts, and only for some products. Consumer organisations and associations advocating for easier repair have called for rules to facilitate repair for non-professionals, and to guarantee consumers access to spare parts and repair manuals. However, business organisations mostly favour professional repairs only, and have warned that any information requirements should not infringe on companies’ intellectual property.
B. The absence of a clear prohibition in EU law on anti-repair practices for small electronics and ICTs (example, part-pairing)
Part pairing is a widely used practice in electronic products to control repair access. It involves serialising spare parts with unique serial numbers, allowing them to be paired to individual devices. Part pairing limits independent repairers’ work, as the repaired product with part pairing may display warning messages, indicating the new part is not genuine or not functioning properly.
Part pairing was identified as one of the main barriers to repair. It was not expressly prohibited by EU law until IMCO comments on the proposal, but now a clear prohibition is getting introduced in legislation, and it will need to be implemented into national law because it’s a directive. Some states had already introduced the prohibition and taken a stance against anti-repair practices. An example of these strong actions is the case against Apple presented by Halte à l’Obsolescence Programmée (HOP) in France.5 In addition to the case, the French government imposes taxes on manufacturers which are then used to fund repairing schemes. In France with the new fund they have since last December, about 52,000 products have been repaired which is 1.2 million EUR spent thanks to 1,600 repair shops.
References:
- Right to Repair Campaign, ‘Broad support for repair at the EU Parliament – will the Council keep up with ambition?’ (2023).
- World Health Organisation, ‘Electronic waste (e-waste)’ (2023).
- European Commission, ‘Right to repair: Commission introduces new consumer rights for easy and attractive repairs’ (2023).
- European Environmental Bureau, ‘Most EU member states miss collection target for electronic waste, NGOs demand quick action from European Commission’ (2022)
- Right to Repair Campaign, ‘Court claim against Apple: French prosecutors open an investigation into part-pairing’ (2023).
How can you be involved?
Ask EU policymakers for a universal right to repair through the Right to Repair Campaign website. Ahead of the decision of the European Council on new repair rules at the end of November, ask your national representatives to vote for truly game-changing legislation! Compose and send them an email in just a few clicks. If you can, personalise the email by adding something in your native language, as it will be sent to EU representatives from your country.
Spread awareness and stay updated through social media on the importance of repair and the initiatives of the Right to Repair Campaign and Generation Climate Europe:
- Instagram: Right to Repair Europe Instagram & GCE Instagram
- Facebook: Right to Repair Europe Facebook & GCE Facebook
- Twitter: Right to Repair Europe Twitter
- Linkedin: GCE
Support businesses that are repair-friendly: you can find a list of repair organisations and shops at https://repair.eu/our-network/ or an interactive repair map at Repair Maps (sharepair.org)!
