Discarded products are often viable goods that can be repaired. Within the EU, this results yearly in 35 million tons of waste, and the loss for consumers by opting for replacement instead of repair is estimated at almost EUR 12 billion per year. Therefore, on 22 March the European Commission published a proposal for rules promoting the repair of goods, which shall result in savings for consumers and support the objectives of the European Green Deal by reducing waste, among others.
The proposal shall make repair easier and more cost-effective than replacement. Insufficient incentives have been given to consumers to repair their goods when the legal guarantee expires. The proposal shall ensure that more
products are both repaired within the legal guarantee, and also when that has expired, or if the product is not functional anymore as a result of wear and tear.
Sellers will be required to offer repair except when it is more expensive than replacement.
A European quality standard for repair services will be developed to help consumers identify repairers who are committed to a high quality. This ‘easy repair' standard will be open to all repairers across the EU willing to commit to minimum quality standards, for example based on duration, or availability of products.
Additionally, the initiative is estimated to bring nearly EUR 5 billion in growth and investment in the EU.
Before being made effective, the proposal has, however, to be adopted by both the European Parliament and the Council.
The present proposal complements several other proposals presented by the European Commission to achieve sustainable consumption throughout the entire lifecycle of a product.
The proposal in full is available at this link.
For further information, please contact Kenny.Ho@nemko.com
(Article is based on text provided by Kenny Ho edited by T.Sollie)