The Members of the European Parliament demand the European Commission provides a “right to repair” for the consumers.

Earlier this year, the European Commission announced several plans for the establishment in 2021 of rules that would allow the EU citizens to have what has become known as “right to repair”, that will affect many electronic devices such as cell phones, tablets and laptops. The European Union is taking a big step these days towards the implementation of these rules with the approval by large majority of the proposal.

The European Commission will be in charge of developing a mandatory and visible labeled which contains easy information to understand about the estimated life in each device and the level of repair in the moment of the purchase. 

The resolution also proposes increased availability of repair instructions as well as replacement components for both independent repair store and consumers themselves. France is not going to wait theses rules so that the citizens have the right to repair their equipment, and in January is going to launch reparability rates for plenty of electronic products.

The members of the European Parliament also insist on the requirement of a unique charger in order to decrease the electronic wastes and that is necessary to boost the support of second-hand goods so as to finish the activities that reduce the product life cycle and to endorse  the sustainable production. 

However, it will take some time before the European Commission creates and approves the rules. On the other hand, it is not yet clear what form they will take with regard to product labeling. If the Commission continues with its initial goal of getting everything up and running before the end of 2021, the creation and approval of these standards may come in the coming months.

By: Jorge Villena Cárdenes | Elex Law