New EU appliance rules kick in on ‘right to repair’

Manufacturers must guarantee spare parts available for new devices up to 10 years

BERLIN — Companies that sell refrigerators, washers, hairdryers or TVs in the European Union will need to ensure those appliances can be repaired for up to 10 years, to help reduce the vast mountain of electrical waste that piles up each year on the continent.

The “right to repair,” as it is sometimes called, came into force across the 27-nation bloc Monday. It is part of a broader effort to cut the environmental footprint of manufactured goods by making them more durable and energy efficient.

“This is a really big step in the right direction” said Daniel Affelt of the environmental group BUND-Berlin, which runs several “repair cafes” where people can bring in their broken appliances and get help fixing them.

Modern appliances are often glued or riveted together, he said. “If you need specialist tools or have to break open the device, then you can’t repair it.”

Lack of spare parts is another problem, campaigners say. Sometimes a single broken tooth on a tiny plastic sprocket can throw a proverbial wrench in the works.

“People want to repair their appliances,” Affelt said. “When you tell them that there are no spare parts for a device that’s only a couple of years old, then they are obviously really frustrated by that.”

Under the new EU rules, manufacturers will have to guarantee parts are available for up to a decade, though some will only be provided to professional repair companies to ensure they are installed correctly.

New devices will also have to come with repair manuals and be made in such a way that they can be dismantled using conventional tools when they really can’t be fixed anymore, to improve recycling.

Each year, Europeans produce more than 35 pounds of electrical waste per person. About half of that junk is due to broken household appliances, and the EU recycles only about 40% of it.

German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said that in a next step, manufacturers should have to state how long a product is expected to work for and repair it if it breaks down earlier. This would encourage companies to build more durable products, she said.

“In the repair cafes we see a lot of devices that broke shortly after the warranty expired,” said Affelt — a phenomenon that has prompted some environmentalists to accuse manufacturers of designing their devices with planned obsolescence.

Knowing an appliance will last for a decade might prompt consumers to choose products that are more durable or can be easily fixed, he said.

Environmentalists and consumer rights groups also want the “right to repair” expanded to include smartphones, laptops and other small electrical devices. Apple last year announced it would start providing training and spare parts to certified independent repair stores fixing Mac computers, not just iPhones.

Right to repair bills have been introduced in several state legislatures in the U.S., but there is no nationwide measure in force.