New EU directive encourages repair of goods

The Directive on common rules promoting the repair of goods was adopted on 13 June 2024 and entered into force on 30 July 2024. Member States have to transpose it into national rules and apply it from 31 July 2026.

This instrument aims at promoting more sustainable consumption by increasing repair and reuse of goods both within and outside the legal guarantee. It delivers on the Commission’s priority of green transition, specifically the European Green Deal.

The Directive is one of several pieces of legislation that collectively aim at extending the lifetime of consumer products. It complements the Union’s action in the Ecodesign framework under the Ecodesign Directive, to be replaced by the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. Ecodesign measures promote product reparability by setting requirements on, amongst others, product design and availability of spare parts. This Directive also complements Directive EU/2024/825 on Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition, which aims at providing consumers with better information on durability and reparability of goods at the point of sale.

The Directive aims at encouraging consumers to use their goods for longer thus preventing premature disposal of repairable goods. It establishes a number of measures to promote repair:

Obligation to repair

Manufacturers of products (e.g., fridges or smartphones) that are subject to reparability requirements in EU law and listed in Annex II of the Directive will have to repair those products within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price. Such repairability requirements are set in the product-specific legislation, mainly implementing the Ecodesign Directive and the Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products mentioned before. Annex II to the Directive provides a list of products to which this obligation applies. In addition, manufacturers will be prohibited from using contractual clauses, hardware or software techniques that impede the repair of goods listed in Annex II unless justified by legitimate and objective factors. They will be also obliged to provide access to spare parts at reasonable prices.

Manufacturers are required to make available information on their repair services to consumers in an easily accessible manner. This could be done, for example, on their website or in the instruction manuals. In addition, they must inform consumers on a free access website about the indicative prices charged for typical repairs. These obligations complement product-specific legislation that requires manufacturers to provide information on websites about the spare parts and their indicative prices for specific products.

European Online Platform for repair

Consumers will be able to find repairers more easily through a new online European Repair Platform, which will be established as an extension of “Your Europe” portal. While the Commission will be responsible for setting up the IT infrastructure for this platform, the Member States will set the conditions and manage the registration of repairers established on their territory. The platform is foreseen to become operational in 2027.

Extension of the legal guarantee after repair

The Directive also amended the existing Sale of goods Directive (EU) 2019/771. The amendment provides consumers with an extra year of the legal guarantee if they choose to repair the product instead of replacing it under the legal guarantee.

National measures promoting repair

Member States will have to take at least one measure promoting repair on their territory. This can include both financial and non-financial measures such as information campaigns, repair vouchers, trainings in repair skills.

European Repair Information Form

Repairers will be able to offer to consumers information about their repair services via a standardised European Repair Information Form. It will allow consumers to compare different repair offers more easily. When the repairer chooses to provide the Form, the repair conditions set out therein must remain valid for 30 days.

The Commission will work with the Member States on the development of the European online platform and annual updates of the list of products in Annex II to which the obligation to repair applies.