‘Right to repair’ laws on the way

AUSTRALIA has become a disposable society over the past 20 years with products designed to not be fixed, or repair costs outweighing replacement costs, a national inquiry has found.

But in what could be the biggest shake-up to consumer product rights in decades, the Productivity Commission is assessing a “right to repair” with a view of creating laws that better balance consumer and manufacturer interests.

Of particular focus will be potential manufacturer-imposed “barriers” to monopoly repairs such as high costs tied to authorised repairers only, or designs that make repairs impossible.

In the US, the powerful motor vehicle repair industry created a national storm eight years ago when it successfully lobbied for laws to force car manufacturers to provide the same information to repair shops as they did to official dealerships, thereby opening up the repair industry.

Right-to-repair legislation in the US has since spread to other products.

In Europe, similar laws were created on environmental grounds, to cut landfill piles and the flood of cheap products designed to break down.

The Productivity Commission inquiry will look at goods from cars to household appliances, high-end technology with embedded software and the “proliferation” of smartphones, computers and similar tech devices designed to become rapidly obsolete and unable to be repaired.

“In recent years, concerns have been raised around the world that repairs of consumer products are becoming more difficult, sometimes impossible, and that this is resulting in costly and wasteful outcomes,” the commission stated.

“In part, this has led to the creation of numerous ‘repair cafes’ around Australia and a growing network of self-repair hobbyists.”

The inquiry began this month in Sydney, where economists from the commission questioned the Marrickville Bower Reuse and Repair Centre, an award-winning environmental charity that has pioneered recycling policies and grassroots “repair cafes”.

General manager Guido Verbist said: “A ‘right to repair’ for Australia is what we have been campaigning for, and I am very pleased that it is now happening.”

He said the phenomena of “product obsolescence” was bad for consumers and the environment.

“Product obsolescence is a deliberate strategy from the manufacturers of those electronic items and you can see it everywhere, they design products that are not meant to last forever,” he said.