EU Creates Right to Repair.

"Expensive spare parts, no workshops - defective products these days mostly end up in the trash. The European Union now wants to change that and give consumers the right to repairs.

 

Damaged products still often end up in the trash in the EU because repairing them is too expensive or inconvenient. The European Parliament wants to change that with a new right to repair. The Internal Market Committee voted on Wednesday (with 38 votes for and two against) in favor of the Commission's corresponding legislative proposal from March. This gives consumers the right to have defective goods repaired within a reasonable period of time after the end of the two-year warranty period - for a fee.

 

Manufacturers must provide the necessary spare parts for this. Independent workshops should have direct access to these or instructions for replicating them, for example using 3D printers. This is Parliament's response to the fact that repairs often fail due to a lack of spare parts.

 

In order to prevent manufacturers from making repairs more difficult through high prices for spare parts, the responsible national authorities should monitor prices. Consumers can contact the manufacturer directly for a repair, so they do not have to contact the dealer first. This is intended to increase the incentive for them to design products that are repair-friendly, because in case of doubt it is their responsibility to repair even repaired goods. After the repair, manufacturers and workshops are liable for one year.

 

Limited scope

 

However, this does not apply to all products. The Commission had limited the scope of application to goods for which there are repairability requirements in the “EU ecodesign rules”. These are primarily household appliances, but also smartphones and laptops. For washing machines, for example, the eco-design rules stipulate that they must be repairable ten years after purchase. The MEPs also picked up bicycles.

 

The committee has weakened the proposed law for the warranty period. The EU Commission wanted to specify a new hierarchy for the first two years after the purchase. A repair would always have taken priority over replacing a defective product if it had not been more expensive. The committee further restricts this. Even if the repair causes “significant inconvenience” for consumers, the defective item can be replaced. Even within the warranty period, the “guarantee” is extended by one year if a product has been repaired.

 

Law promises billions in savings

 

"The washing machine is defective and the spare part is so expensive that it's hardly worth repairing, that's it," said parliament's chief negotiator, SPD MP René Repasi. In order to strengthen competition, all the information and spare parts necessary for repairs will be available at affordable prices in the future. This puts independent specialist companies at the center of a functioning repair market. “Repairing is active climate protection and saves consumers money,” said Green MEP Anna Cavazzini.

 

According to estimates by the European Commission, the EU law can save around 18.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases, 1.8 million tonnes of raw materials and 3 million tonnes of waste over a period of 15 years. 

 

Consumers, in turn, could save 176.5 billion euros during this period if their products were repaired rather than thrown away, the Commission estimates.

 

The plenary session is expected to confirm the committee line in November. Given the cross-party support, this is a formality. Parliament must then negotiate a common line with the Council of Ministers. Only when this is in place can the new law come into force. The states should also decide on their position by the end of November." [1]

 

1. EU schafft Recht auf Reparatur. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (online) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH. Oct 25, 2023. Von Hendrik Kafsack, Brüssel