This isn’t a huge surprise given the momentum around sustainability and the need to cut waste worldwide, but it looks as if the EU Parliament is to adopt a stronger position on the right to repair for consumers. And, that can only be a good thing, if it is implemented and enforced.
ERT has reported on this, and the upshot of it is that there appears to be a new legal guarantee period being proposed so that, as an example, sellers would be required to prioritise repair if it is cheaper or equal in cost to replace an appliance.
A spokesperson for the Parliament said: “People want to expand the lifespan of their devices, but it is often too costly or difficult. We adopted a series of measures to encourage consumers to choose repair over replacement, with a special focus on supporting independent repairers and establishing financial incentives.
“We expect Council to adopt their position soon, so we can begin negotiations to transform these measures into law and pave the way for a truly circular European economy.”
Reportedly, the UK already has its own version of a “right to repair” legislation that involves makers having to make repair information and spare parts available for repairs for up to ten years for certain white goods and televisions. But in practice, well let’s just say that we don’t find that to be the case for many and we haven’t seen anywhere to report makers being in breach of this so, who enforces it, we have no clue.
Makers of washing machines, washer-dryers, dishwashers, fridges and televisions must provide consumers with spare parts for “simple and safe” repairs, such as fitting a new drain filter or replacing a tray in a fridge freezer.
But we’ve seen many instances where any parts are unavailable, filters you can only get with a complete new pump assembly, dishwasher basket wheels only with a complete basket, sealed tanks in washing machines and many, many more instances that (to us from our perspective) just laughs in the face of this legislation. Throw in that there’s seemingly no way to bring a complaint about it, and some makers probably couldn’t give two hoots about it, if they are even aware of it, as we suspect that many brand owners, especially, haven’t a clue.
So there is justifiably much criticism of the law as aside all the above there is no cap on how much manufacturers can charge for spare parts.
Also, the law only applies to appliances brought on or after 1 July 2021, and it doesn’t cover cookers, microwaves, hobs or tumble dryers, so for a number of years, this won’t have any effect at all.
Don’t get us wrong, this is a positive step from the EU and UK but it most certainly does not go far enough by a long, long way and legislators really need to talk to the people at the sharp end of the industry that are dealing with service and spare parts to find ways to stop the senseless waste of millions of appliances every year, scrapped due to non-availability of parts, servicing information and insane prices. Then they need a way to enforce this, substantial fines would be a good start.
But if governments are serious about the reduction of waste and better outcomes for consumers, they need to do much better than this.
