As the TV programme tagesschau.de reported on 25 January 2022, Consumer Protection Minister Lemke intends to make the service life of products more transparent. A “Repairability Index” is intended to provide guidance. So far, the EU has already issued regulations for several appliance groups, such as refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers and vacuum cleaners, which stipulate the availability of spare parts for up to 10 years; for the first 3 groups, this legislation has also been in force since as early as March of last year.
However, the repairability of a device also takes account of factors such as the availability of repair instructions, the ease of replacing spare parts or the price of such spare parts. The following example shows how something like this can be implemented: A repair index ranging from 0 to 10 has already existed in France since January 2021. The higher the index, the easier the repair work. This index is provided when a product is purchased and is intended to influence the purchase decision.
It remains to be seen whether the Ministry for Consumer Protection will focus on a national index for Germany or tackle the issue on a pan-European scale.
At any rate, the economic operators affected, such as manufacturers, importers and fulfilment service providers, are bound to face fresh challenges. Careful monitoring of legislative initiatives is advisable.
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