EU "Right to Repair" legislation to go into force from March

[Shepanator]

Starting in March most household appliances sold in Europe will have to comply to new rules making them easy to repair with basic tools. As well as this manufacturers will be required to provide spare parts within 15 days and make repair manuals available to independent specialists. Notably smartphones, tablets and laptops are not yet included, but (desktop) computers, game consoles, and most types of household appliance are covered by the laws.

 

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Across Europe, legislation is pushing back against a waste-based economy and restoring for citizens something companies have gradually taken away: the right to repair what they’ve bought.

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In November, the EU Parliament called on the European Commission to make routine repair of everyday products easier, systematic and cost-efficient. It said that warranties should be extended, and that replacement parts should be improved and made more accessible, as should information enabling general repair and maintenance.

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The EU’s existing eco-design regulations could be an instrument to reach these goals. These mandates were established years ago to improve the energy efficiency of products sold in the EU. But in March, the first eco-design regulation that will define standards for repair and useful life will come into force. Manufacturers of washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators and monitors (OP note: and more! See the 2nd source link) will have to ensure that components are replaceable with common tools. Instruction manuals must be accessible to specialist companies. And producers must supply spare parts within 15 days.  

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Europe is one of the largest markets in the world, which means that new EU design guidelines and right to repair mandates could force manufacturers across the world to make more durable products. The shift can’t come soon enough. At over ten million tons per year, e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in Europe. In Germany alone, two million tons are generated annually. Repairing products and extending their useful life could play a key role in mitigating the environmental consequences of all this waste. And that’s exactly what a large majority of EU citizens want. Nearly 80 percent would rather repair their devices than replace them. And a majority think that manufacturers should be legally obliged to facilitate the repair of digital devices or the replacement of their individual parts.

 

I think this is fantastic news, and the legislation that covers smartphones & laptops as well can't come soon enough. I wonder if appliance manufacturers will start making spare parts available world-wide or only in the EU market, If they choose not to then a grey-market of spare parts trading will probably spring up, with Europeans shipping spare parts to other parts of the world. I'm particularly interested to see how Apple responds to this, their iMacs are notoriously difficult to repair and would require some considerable work to make them compliant with the new European laws.

 

Sources:

Don’t Toss It, Fix It! Europe Is Guaranteeing Citizens the “Right to Repair”

Ecodesign requirements in the European Union

[RejZoR]

I wonder when smartphones and laptops will be covered. I really hate shit some laptop makes are doing to block 3rd party components via firmware. I know Lenovo is doing this really hardcore so you can't even replace WLAN module with some other as it'll just refuse to recognize it.

[Drama Lama]

37 minutes ago, Shepanator said:

easy to repair with basic tools.

The question remains what is considered easy and basic 

[Sir Asvald]

Great..as soon as UK leaves the EU

[bcredeur97]

Glad this is a thing, but I wonder if it will make stuff more expensive. since companies already trying to increase profits, it makes it harder for them to meet higher targets when you implement something like this all of a sudden, and theoretically they will push that onto the consumer by charging more $.

[GDRRiley]

5 minutes ago, bcredeur97 said:

Glad this is a thing, but I wonder if it will make stuff more expensive. since companies already trying to increase profits, it makes it harder for them to meet higher targets when you implement something like this all of a sudden, and theoretically they will push that onto the consumer by charging more $.

it shouldn't make anything cost more. screws should get cheaper if they make everyone use the same types.
I can see placing being pissed the got to stock parts. which will raise other costs

[wanderingfool2]

21 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

it shouldn't make anything cost more. screws should get cheaper if they make everyone use the same types.
I can see placing being pissed the got to stock parts. which will raise other costs

Depends...it could cause more companies to move the Apple approach.  Linking more and more things together, so that when it fails you cannot realistically replace just a single component.  Or I could see them starting to cheap out on the type of screws they use, so that opening it up would break the screw (https://www.macrumors.com/2018/05/28/snazzy-labs-imac-pro-vesa-adapter-broke/ like so).  Not saying this would happen, but I've seen so many phillips heads that got stripped due to cheap metal/cam-out (vs torx screws). 

 

It could also be that certain parts are designed to break more often.  e.g. a dishwasher I had had the handle break because they used plastic on one component (rest was metal)...you could buy a really expensive replacement part that replaced the plastic part with metal.

 

The last being, and not sure if this is part of the bill, but if parts are required to be supplied to customers then there is the added cost of keeping/stocking those parts...so you may find instead of innovating certain components they stagnate because it's just cheaper keeping a single part (than having a redesign that uses a newer better part)

[starry]

Happy for this, would like to see more legislation rolled out around the world to this tune. About a year ago I lost my mind when I found out my partner's HP laptop wont work with any sata drive other than what came in it. Also you cant disable secure boot for linux. The wifi chip was also soldered, and it asked for an "HP technician code when it detected a RAM configuration change. It became ewaste, but it could have been spruced up and resold to a new home. Its really gross that corporations do this.

[GDRRiley]

9 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Depends...it could cause more companies to move the Apple approach.  Linking more and more things together, so that when it fails you cannot realistically replace

thing is the EU regulations should stop software locks.

[wanderingfool2]

47 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

thing is the EU regulations should stop software locks.

Except if they tie it to security...all a company has to do is make it more inconvenient than getting a new one...or essentially design it in a way that a replacement component becomes too impractical to replace due to the cost to replace said component.

[GDRRiley]

8 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Except if they tie it to security...all a company has to do is make it more inconvenient than getting a new one...or essentially design it in a way that a replacement component becomes too impractical to replace due to the cost to replace said component.

I haven't read though but it isn't hard to write it part costs must not exceed 1.5x your cost.

[wanderingfool2]

6 minutes ago, GDRRiley said:

I haven't read though but it isn't hard to write it part costs must not exceed 1.5x your cost.

I haven't really read it...I'm just taking a cynical approach to this...otherwise if you limit to like 1.5x your cost it can be difficult to accurately assess the true cost of a product (e.g. a small plastic part that costs $1 to make, but if you were to sell it you have to factor in all the costs of having someone pick the part, ship it, the accounting done on it...etc...so I am sure they can inflate the true costs).

 

In terms of the Apple example though, it's like having the CPU,GPU and RAM all on one chip...that chip then becomes a huge "cost" to replace...or they could tie in certain encryptions between chips so that when one chip breaks the pair need to replaced.  I'm sure there are plenty of design choices that will make it difficult to repair

[Shepanator]

20 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Except if they tie it to security...all a company has to do is make it more inconvenient than getting a new one...or essentially design it in a way that a replacement component becomes too impractical to replace due to the cost to replace said component.

maybe I'm interpreting it wrong (I'm not a lawyer, can you tell? ), but the law evaluates the overall ecological impact of the product's design based on it's efficiency, recyclability, and ease of maintenance (i.e. right to repair), so a manufacturer cannot use security as a loop hole unless it's a core function of the device that would be compromised. Your point about a fully integrated system like the new Arm Macbooks is completely valid though, if there's a RAM failure then the entire SOC is screwed.

[GDRRiley]

12 minutes ago, wanderingfool2 said:

In terms of the Apple example though, it's like having the CPU,GPU and RAM all on one chip...that chip then becomes a huge "cost" to replace...or they could tie in certain encryptions between chips so that when one chip breaks the pair need to replaced.  I'm sure there are plenty of design choices that will make it difficult to repair

yeah SOCs make it hard but that does mean that apple should be forced to sell boards with every config

[Helpful Tech Witch]

4 hours ago, RejZoR said:

I wonder when smartphones and laptops will be covered. I really hate shit some laptop makes are doing to block 3rd party components via firmware. I know Lenovo is doing this really hardcore so you can't even replace WLAN module with some other as it'll just refuse to recognize it.

Or when dell and hp are going to be forced to let ram be any stick, not just dell certified.

[Dabombinable]

Laptops are computers. So manufacturers have managed to partially weasel their way out of needing to comply completely?
 

1 hour ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Or when dell and hp are going to be forced to let ram be any stick, not just dell certified.

Luckily for us all, HP appears to have stopped with their bullshit BIOS whitelist. My 2010 HP Pavilion DV6 3010AX has that with the wifi card. Even though non listed wifi cards worked perfectly fine if swapped around when the computer was asleep (it auto-installed the correct drivers). I really fucking hated the fake error when trying to post with it installed.

[eddiemcgarrigle]

To think I could be benefitting from this if my country had not been dragged out of the EU by Westminster.

[Guest]

Home owner vs appliance + basic tools.

 

New electroboom videos soon?

[Quackers101]

kinda nice with EU, although they do mess it up at times.

When so many brands are located and care more about the US laws, were US tech companies trying to control things there.

This is a good thing from the EU, just like we see in china were big companies like APPLE HQ? were you already can build your own phone from spare parts and get everything you need, although it would be nice if there are a certain standards that HAS to be used. like common screws, not mixing screws for no reason other than being an ****. based around systems that works. But it can always be a risk like with USB/HDMI versions etc, were it all tries to be too similar but are actually not the same and cant be used or you will not get every feature from it making you buy new stuff or something.

[Zodiark1593]

1 hour ago, Dabombinable said:

Laptops are computers. So manufacturers have managed to partially weasel their way out of needing to comply completely?
 

Luckily for us all, HP appears to have stopped with their bullshit BIOS whitelist. My 2010 HP Pavilion DV6 3010AX has that with the wifi card. Even though non listed wifi cards worked perfectly fine if swapped around when the computer was asleep (it auto-installed the correct drivers). I really fucking hated the fake error when trying to post with it installed.

Smartphones are computers as well, literally speaking. It will be interesting to see what occurs. I would find it difficult to believe that companies such as Apple and Samsung would make significant compromises to adhere to the new laws. 
 

I don’t see a lot changing with flagship devices, however, lower end devices could see more standardization, as it wouldn’t be terribly economical to offer every bespoke component for all the mid and low end devices. 

[Thaldor]

5 hours ago, wanderingfool2 said:

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IIRC this is meant to be same kind of thing as EU energy label stickers with grading from D (worst) to A++++ (god-like) which tell the consumer how good the product is on that meter. Companies can make D-grade garbage and cut the costs to the minimum but good luck getting sales when even stores don't want to stock D-grade garbage because that sticker looks ugly when the next product has A. Those are also completely made by the manufacturers as in there isn't any extra costs evaluating their product if they can do it in-house and basicly they can just slap that sticker in and everything is ok (you can even print your own stickers with EU provided sticker maker), but there is random tests done by all customs officials and national quality assurance officials in every EU country and if you lied on the sticker, you will be in the next chapter of "how EU fines companies" series (quick summary: 10-50% of the revenue, nope, not the profits because those can be played around, the revenue, so even bigger companies really feel EU fines).

So, if company's product fulfills all the mentioned things to be really customer serviceable and repairable, it can slap that A-grade sticker to it and to the shelf it goes. But if the product doesn't fulfill all the things they can slap some lower grade sticker and to the shelf it goes.

 

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so you may find instead of innovating certain components they stagnate because it's just cheaper keeping a single part (than having a redesign that uses a newer better part)

And there's so much innovation that companies change screws to much more better and more developed ones every century.

In information technology things really go like a rocket forward but everywhere else, not that fast. Your coffeemaker is most likely extremely similar to the one from couple decades ago, Moccamaster and it probably is identical to the one from the 70's with very few modifications, biggest difference is probably that added clock that costs "100+something" in the coffeemaker and does "so innovative things" like has a timer switch that costed 10 cents to develop and add to the design. Mostly "the big changes" are stuff like added one plastic peg and moved others so the new parts can't fit the old machine and the customer cannot just go and scavenge that drip-lock from older/newer model but needs to either pay a ton to get replacement or just buy a whole new machine (from which still the comany makes profits even if it's a lot cheaper than the replacement part). Even worse if we talk about even more mundane things like fridge handles, like does every fridge need "innovative and modern" new handle made especially for that single model that is just one out of tens yearly released by the same company? Or would it actually be a lot smarter to make one handle extremely well and use it through all of the companys fridges through several years (it's not very likely someone comes out with so new and fabulous innovations concerning handles that you would need to have a new one in every model).

And yeah, engines, pumps and so on and on do develop over time but even then we talk years of using around the same pump with minimal changes (mostly enough that it doesn't fit the old machine -minimal). Not to even go to buttons and other small bits and pieces that have remained unchanged decades because there really isn't any reason to try to change them. Like seriously, the reason why the brand new coffee maker costs less than the replacement pot, is because the company is being a cheap piece of shit and it really don't want you to replace that pot but buy a new one because then they don't have to have any kind of repair/replacement infrastructure and especially, they don't want you to go and dig around from some garbage pile newer or older used pot.

[Shepanator]

5 hours ago, Thaldor said:

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Yeah you make a really good point, the only difference between many consumer electronics of today and those of several decades ago is a major cost-down in materials & manufacturing, and if you want to be cynical a few design changes to make old parts incompatible. 

[GDRRiley]

11 hours ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Or when dell and hp are going to be forced to let ram be any stick, not just dell certified.

HP on my 2008, 2012 and 2018 all don't care when it comes to ram or drives

[Stahlmann]

I guess this will become a world-wide thing. Most manufacturers will just develop 1 product for all markets rather than 1 that's easier to repair and 1 that's hard to repair for the rest of the world.

[Souldust]

16 hours ago, Sir Asvald said:

Great..as soon as UK leaves the EU

I can still see us using this law for right-to-repair, or at least if enough people ask the PM's for it, it could be pushed through.