Say goodbye to planned obsolescence! The European Commission is working on a right to repair, which would last from five to ten years depending on the electronic devices. The goal: to prioritize troubleshooting over replacement in order to make them more durable.

Say goodbye to planned obsolescence! The European Commission is working on a right to repair, which would last from five to ten years depending on the electronic devices. The goal: to prioritize troubleshooting over replacement in order to make them more durable.

Europe is continuing its journey to reduce the environmental impact of electronics, particularly in terms of the raw materials used to create the devices and the mountain of waste they generate. This is why the European Commission presented on Wednesday 22 March a new proposal for a directive to fix “common rules to promote the repair of property”. It aims to enable European citizens to save money while promoting recycling and repair, eliminating “the obstacles that still dissuade too many consumers from getting repaired” : lack of transparency, difficulty in accessing repair services, excessively high prices, unchangeable parts… As a result, manufacturers and repairers would be subject to new obligations.

The most important measure of this directive is certainly the right to repair, the duration of which would range from five to ten years depending on the type of product. Eligible devices would include smartphones, tablets, televisions, washing machines and other household appliances. Thus, users could have them repaired more easily and at lower cost when they are damaged or broken, including after the expiry of the warranty period. Brands would therefore be forced to attempt to repair them rather than have them replaced with new products. This proposal is part of the European Union’s overall plan to achieve a circular economy by 2050 – i.e. avoiding extracting scarce resources to manufacture products that become electronic waste, but rather transforming these last ones to manufacture a new generation of products. It’s about “last element of a series of measures aimed at making the right to reparation a reality”explains European Commissioner Didier Reynders in a statement. The text still needs to be amended and adopted by the European Parliament and Council, so this is only the start of the legislative process for the directive.

Right to repair: between five and ten years depending on the device

Concretely, “producers of goods subject to repairability requirements […] will be obliged to repair a product for 5-10 years after purchase (depending on the type of product), unless this is impossible (for example, if the products are damaged in such a way that the repair is technically impossible)”explains Brussels in his press release. This right to repair would be added to the legal guarantee of conformity, which is 2 years, which would be revised for the occasion. With this directive, the warranty – always during the two years following the date of purchase – would oblige sellers to repair the devices free of charge within a reasonable time – unless the repair costs more than a replacement. After this period, the right to repair would take over, and manufacturers would still have to provide repair service for a second period that lasts three to eight years, but this time it would be chargeable – unless again repair is impossible. .

Brussels relies on competition between repairers to avoid excessive maintenance costs and offer competitive prices. This is why Europe plans to set up an online platform in each Member State to allow consumers to find repairers and resellers of reconditioned goods. Companies will be required to transparently display their prices, so that consumers can compare them. The ultimate goal would be to create a “repair ecosystem.”

Right to repair: an ecological and economic issue

Electronic devices have a significant impact on the environment. A study of the’Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe) and of the Electronic Communications Regulatory Authority (Arcep) revealed that screens – televisions, tablets, smartphones, etc. – represent 2.5% of the carbon footprint in France. This is why it is essential to make their design more sustainable, in order to avoid premature and unnecessary renewal of equipment that is still functional. It is the famous programmed obsolescence which generates the multiplication of electronic waste – and therefore of pollution.

The European Commission already tackled this problem in September 2022, recognizing that smartphones and tablets “are often replaced prematurely by users” and are not “not sufficiently used or recycled.” A situation that has a cost in terms of resources used and waste. The European Commission estimates that extending the lifespan of these devices from 2-3 years to 5 years would mean taking up to 5 million cars out of circulation – transport being one of the major causes of the pollution – as reported by the FinancialTimes. According to the Commission, the products replaced each year while they were repairable represent in the EU some 35 million tonnes of waste.

And that’s not counting the stakes on the purchasing power of the European population! Indeed, according to the Commission, choosing replacement rather than repair leads to a loss estimated at nearly 12 billion euros per year for individuals. The European Union hopes in passing that making the right to repairability compulsory will lead to the creation of jobs in the repair sector with professions that cannot be relocated.

Right to repair: more easily replaceable elements

Already in September 2022, the European Commission had also manifested its will through a bill that smartphone manufacturers and vendors make parts and repair services available to make smartphones last longer by simply replacing the faulty part instead of changing the entire device – and thereby reducing waste. That’s why they will have to make these parts – battery, camera, screen, button, microphone, speaker, hinge – and services available for at least five years after the date the smartphone is withdrawn from the market.

As for the battery, they must either be removable – as was the case before – or retain at least 83% of their nominal capacity after 500 charge cycles, and 80% after 1,000 cycles. And there is still work to do to get there! On his support, Apple explains that a “normal” battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity after 500 full charge cycles – but it offers to change it for a fee. On the Android side, it depends on the manufacturer. For Oppo/OnePlus, the battery of some of its models, such as the Find X5 Pro, the Reno 8 or the OnePlus 10T, retain at least 80% of their capacity after 1,600 charge cycles – around 4 years of use. This desire follows the decision of the European Union to impose USB-C connectivity on all devices in 2024 – a constraint which could easily apply to the rest of the world, the manufacturers not going to build a model specially for Europe, which is an important market.

Durability of mobiles: software update extended to 5 years

Europe also wanted to implement a minimum duration for software updates. Indeed, after a while, the manufacturer no longer updates the operating system (OS) or security patches. – some applications become incompatible and security vulnerabilities are no longer corrected, which exposes you to risks. A situation that is seen as an incentive to change aircraft well before its end of life. The policy of the updates provided depends on the manufacturers (see our practical sheet of the best smartphone brands on this subject) and the models, and, if most have made efforts in recent years, the European Commission does not consider them sufficient. For an Android device, she therefore wanted to go to three years of major updates (Android 13, 14, etc.) and five years of security patches. All should be deployed within two to four months of release.

A policy already partly applied by Apple and Samsung – which offers four years of Android updates and five years of security for its Galaxy smartphones (Z, S and Tab), and four years of Android and security for its others models. Google, with the launch of the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro, increased the duration of security patches to five years. On the other hand, for other manufacturers, it varies enormously from one model to another, especially for entry-level smartphones which are penalized – with an average of about two Android updates and three security updates.

Right to reparation: a step forward deemed insufficient

These laws continue to be discussed – some states, such as Germany, want to impose seven years of updates – and it will be time before the vote and then its application take place. They are particularly aimed at entry-level and mid-range smartphones, which do not receive the same attention as premium models – at the same time, it is better to think twice before shelling out 1,800 euros. Nevertheless, some are skeptical about the application and consequences of such measures. On the one hand, this risks increasing the cost of the devices since it will be necessary to make investments – investments which will therefore affect the final price of the devices. Second, this field is changing very quickly, and some functions introduced by new operating system updates may not work on older products. Ditto on the side of the computing capacity of old mobile processors, which could create slowdowns or impossibilities to operate.

Moreover, the competitiveness of the repair prices on which Brussels relies does not attack the heart of the problem, namely the cost of the repair. Just because the repair service will be required does not mean that it will be affordable. Moreover, who will estimate the cost of a repair, and on what criteria? Will manufacturers willingly lend themselves to the game of repairability? No doubt, the directives will still have to be refined and clarified before they can be effective…