Europe Wants to Give Consumers a ‘Right to Repair’
Europe Considers Plan to Require Manufacturers to Offer Device Repairs
(Bloomberg) -- Europe is taking consumer rights to a new level with a plan that would require manufacturers of everything from mobile phones to washing machines to offer repairs.
“Most of those devices end up in waste,” European Union Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius told reporters on Wednesday in Brussels. “Two out of three European citizens said very clearly that they want their devices -- electronics -- to serve them longer. It means that we have to provide them with the right to repair.”
The initiative is part of a wide-ranging European campaign to curb pollution on the ground and in the air. Dubbed the Green Deal, the package foresees measures including tougher emission caps, stricter sustainability standards for goods sold on the market and more information on product labels.
The European Commission, the 27-nation EU’s regulatory arm driving the whole campaign, says greater environmental protection poses more economic opportunities than it does risks. A key is empowering consumers and the right-to-repair principle is central to this, according to Sinkevicius, who comes from Lithuania.
“We will make sure that this right, which belongs to them, is fully implemented,” he said. “What we are trying to reach is a little bit different perception of the economic model.”
Europe needs an economic revamp in which manufacturers focus increasingly on services, according to Sinkevicius. It’s about “selling you not a device but a service; basically selling not a light bulb but light, selling not a washing machine but loads or cycle spins,” he said.
As part of the “circular economy” plan announced on Wednesday, the commission will draft more than a dozen laws to ensure Europe uses greater amounts of its discarded fibers, metals and plastics. Only 12% of materials currently used by industry come from recycling, according to the commission.
The planned measures due to be presented over the next two years also include:
- energy-savings standards for printers and cartridges
- tougher rules on industrial emissions
- new legislation on packaging and packaging waste
- sustainability norms for batteries
- steps to reduce microplastics
- creating cleaner textiles
To contact the reporters on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net;Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, ;Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Nikos Chrysoloras
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