Flawed Right to Repair: If There Were More Technicians and Better Laws, There Would Be Less Waste

We no longer repair electrical and electronic devices after their warranty expires because – it is not cost-effective. A prime example is a refrigerator from a famous manufacturer purchased in late 2017, which was repaired twice in a short period due to the same fault – water leakage, costing a total of 50 euros. But that’s not all: now we also need to replace the broken drawer in the freezer of that refrigerator, and a new one costs 65 euros.

The price of a similar new refrigerator today ranges from 500 to 600 euros, and even less if there is a sale. Considering that the old refrigerator will eventually require new and more expensive repairs, it is more cost-effective to buy a new one. Adding to this is the waiting time for a technician from the authorized service to arrive; the new refrigerator will be delivered from the moment of purchase to delivery before the technician arrives to repair the old one.

Are our nerves so environmentally conscious that instead of thinking about buying a new refrigerator or any other household appliance, mobile phone, or computer, we consider environmental protection and waste accumulation instead of solving problems by purchasing new items? They are not. However, European Union bureaucrats are daily devising new rules under the European Green Deal, which aims to establish a circular economy or sustainable consumption and climate neutrality by 2050.

Too Expensive and Poorly Accessible

Regardless of the often utopian bureaucratization, the truth is that not all consumers are happy when they have to throw away an old device and buy a new one. Some find it hard to understand that previously, a faulty household appliance lasted for decades, while today’s devices work flawlessly for only a few years. The practice of throwing away old devices is so established that hardly anyone thinks about whether to throw away an old device or not.

Experience teaches us that the product we purchased will last as long as its warranty, at best five to six years. However, there are cases where even a completely new product is defective, and despite the warranty, it is difficult to repair. This refers to goods that leave the factory with defects, which the customer ultimately pays for. Nevertheless, according to Eurobarometer research, as many as 77 percent of consumers in the European Union would gladly repair old products if repairs were not so expensive and such services were more accessible.

Sustainable Choice

In the European Union, every year, as much as 35 million tons of discarded devices end up in waste, whose lifespan could be extended by repairs beyond the warranty period. This amount of waste consumes 30 million tons of resources and emits 261 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, consumers spend about 12 billion euros each year on purchasing new products instead of repairing old ones.

This should be changed by the right to repair. As part of the green transition process, the European Commission proposed the right to repair old devices beyond the warranty period as a more sustainable consumption choice, reducing waste and fulfilling the goals of the green deal. The proposal has been accepted, and consumers in the EU will be able to more easily repair old devices after the warranty expires according to the new Common Rules for promoting the repair of goods, as their right to repair will make it simpler.

The novelty is that consumers will have the right to request repairs of electrical and electronic devices such as household appliances, mobile phones, computers, etc., from manufacturers, and the manufacturer will be rewarded with an incentive for applying a sustainable business model. This practice will enable growth and investment of 4.8 billion euros annually.

Manufacturer Obligations

According to the new Common Rules for promoting the repair of goods, it is the manufacturer’s obligation to inform consumers about products they are required to repair themselves and to enable them to find the appropriate service. Consumers will be able to request a European repair information form from any service provider, which will include the conditions and prices of repairs, making it easier to choose a service. Additionally, a European quality standard for repair services will be established, allowing consumers to choose service providers that offer the highest quality service.

The right to repair was announced in the New Consumer Agenda and the EU Action Plan for Circular Economy, and this initiative complements other aspects of the European Green Deal for sustainable consumption through repair. The proposal for a directive on empowering consumers for the green transition helps them make purchasing decisions at the point of sale, where they should be explained what rights they have in case of product defects.

Seller’s Duty

The Common Rules for promoting the repair of goods in the EU will allow for the repair of a greater number of devices within the warranty period and easier and cheaper repairs after the warranty expires or when the device is unusable due to wear and tear. Under these rules, sellers will have to enable the repair of defective devices unless it is more expensive than purchasing a new product.

What the results of the right to repair will be remains to be seen, but for now, consumers in Croatia prefer to buy new devices rather than repair old ones. According to research by Biljana Borzan, a Member of the European Parliament and a member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), more than 80 percent of Croatian citizens believe that repair is not cost-effective due to expensive spare parts.

– Manufacturers must continue to provide spare parts and schematics for their products after the warranty expires. This should strengthen repairs and prevent the buy-use-throw pattern. Therefore, we ensured that information about the price and availability of the most important spare parts and services is available at the time of purchase so that consumers can make an informed choice. Various measures such as loans, tax incentives, and availability of schematics aim to strengthen the service network in the EU. Regarding repairs after the warranty expires, the manufacturer can offer a replacement device if the repair takes longer than a reasonable time – emphasizes Borzan.

Warehouse of Bad Products

However, the Secretary of the Croatian Consumer Protection Association Tomislav Lončar claims that the problem is not with the service providers, whether they exist or not, but in the fact that the Law on Obligatory Relations (Article 410) has changed, which no longer allows for a refund in case of material defects but only a replacement, which can be the same defective product we are returning or exchanging.

– It was envisioned that products would be attempted to be repaired if it suits consumers, but it is allowed that traders only need to provide spare parts for the duration of the warranty. This is the best example showing that neither the manufacturer nor the trader, nor the state cares about repairing devices, but rather about selling new ones – explains Lončar.

According to him, nearly eight out of ten complaints about repairs of electrical and electronic devices relate to material defects in the product, and there are many complaints about new products that have just been purchased and those that are not older than six months. Consumers do not want to repair such products because if you pay 1000 euros for a mobile phone, dishwasher, or washing machine, you do not want to repair such a new item.

– By changing the legislative regulation, we have become a warehouse of bad products that consumers ultimately repair until they get tired of it or until the warranty expires, when the trader no longer has the obligation to repair for free – notes Lončar.

Responsibility for Defects

He adds that consumers most often report defects in white goods, mobile devices, and laptops, and recently also in new vehicles.

– When it comes to material defects, consumers should contact the trader, and when they want repairs under warranty, then to the service providers. For the application of the Common Rules on the repair of goods to function, the conditions should be fair and non-discriminatory. Unfortunately, consumers are always the weaker party. It should be shown that the trader is responsible for the defective product and should restore the possibility of a refund due to material defects. Then manufacturers would also produce higher quality devices. The service department should be bound by repair deadlines, not by some imaginary appropriate or reasonable deadlines known only to the Ministry of Finance.

Deadlines need to be firm, because if in the past state the deadline for repairs was forty-five days, now from the report of the defect to the repaired product should not take more than ten days, or in the extreme case, fifteen days. Today, a car part from Korea arrives in two days, while a part for a refrigerator can take a month in the middle of summer. The consumer should have an extended warranty from the day of reporting the defect until the repair, but unfortunately, both the trader and the service provider forget this. It is also a big problem that the state inspectorate does not act promptly for reasons unknown to us, and responses and actions from the inspectorate are awaited for more than a month – lists Lončar.

We were deprived of the opinion of manufacturers and service providers as they did not respond to journalistic inquiries. After all, we know that rules are not always easy to enforce, even when they do not threaten profit, and in this case, manufacturers of the mentioned devices certainly do not aim to produce spare parts, but new products.