Fixing a broken device can be both a headache and expensive, if spare parts are even available at all, but a new law for EU countries could make it easier for consumers to keep older devices up and running. — Photo: Franziska Gabbert/dpa
BRUSSELS: Europe’s hundreds of millions of tablet and smartphone owners have long struggled with repairs and parts replacement, but that could change if new EU rules approved in June are applied to promote the consumer's right to repair.
The EU executive body says a new law would mean "obligations for producers to make critical spare parts available to repairers within 5-10 working days, and until 7 years after the product model is no longer sold on the EU market."
Currently, fixing broken devices or even just swapping in a new battery can often take long or prove so prohibitively expensive as to make buying a new device more sensible.
Meanwhile many discarded devices that can't be quickly or affordably fixed end up on landfills, and the EU estimates that before the pandemic there were around 10 kg of e-waste per inhabitant every year.
The EU has since also moved to require phones, tablets, cameras and headphones and other devices use USB-C charging ports to avoid waste.
In the latest planned tech regulation law, manufacturers will also be required to give "non-discriminatory access" to professional repairers "to any software or firmware needed."
Under a separate Energy Labelling Regulation also proposed in June, the Commission said manufacturers would have to "display information on their energy efficiency, their repairability score, battery longevity, protection from dust and water, and resistance to accidental drops." – dpa
