EU boasts easier repairs for everyday gadgets — but there’s a catch
In most cases, repairs of everyday electronic gadgets and appliances are so expensive or so cumbersome that consumers are told they're better off replacing the faulty product.
The EU has pledged to put an end to that, in a bid to tackle the bloc's ever-growing mountain of electronic waste — and convince voters it's working to improve their daily lives ahead of EU-wide elections coming up in June.
But read the fine print and what the EU is trumpeting as a major win falls short of what's been promised: While the new rules will make it easier to fix a smartphone or a washing machine, they don't apply to a whole range of other everyday items like microwaves, toasters, tablets and headphones.
That confusing discrepancy comes down to a caveat in the final deal agreed by EU negotiators last week: The new legislation — known as "right to repair" — will only apply to products already covered by EU ecodesign rules, which force companies to design them in a way that's easy to repair.
Green MEP Anna Cavazzini praised the legislation as “a breakthrough in consumer protection” that can “herald the end of the throwaway society,” while René Repasi of the Socialists & Democrats heralded it as a "significant success" in the Parliament's efforts to "empower consumers in the fight against climate change."
