Our coalition has fought hard for and seen the adoption of several EU laws towards a European right to repair in the last five years. These include the Common Rules promoting the Repair of Goods (Right to Repair Directive), the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Smartphones and Tablets Ecodesign and Energy Labelling Regulations, and the Batteries Regulation. Does this mean European citizens finally have a right to repair? Not quite… Current legislation is still extremely limited in scope and ambition, and product-specific regulations make it difficult to understand a consumer’s right to repair different items, leaving us all still fighting to repair.
In 2024, we produced a comprehensive analysis of right to repair legislation in the EU, through an extensive policy paper, a product-specific overview table, and a new section of our website called What’s my Right to Repair. As we gear up to advocate louder and stronger during 2025, we also published a two-page policy brief summarising the current state of affairs, what is covered and what is missing from current legislation, and how to achieve a universal right to repair.
Our analysis uncovers clear gaps in current product and consumer policy – ecodesign and right to repair rules – in the EU:
- We have Ecodesign Regulations that make our products more repairable through the availability of spare parts and repair information, and designs for disassembly… but they only apply to the few products covered through product-specific Regulations, leaving all other products unregulated and potentially unrepairable
- We have certain spare parts available to end-users… but they represent a minority of spare parts, while the majority are only available to professional repairers, who must go through a lengthy administrative process to gain access—if the parts are available at all
- We have a Right to Repair Directive banning anti-repair practices such as part-pairing and software blocks for products covered by Ecodesign requirements, and requiring manufacturers to provide repair services and information even outside the guarantee period… but such practices are still allowed if “justified by legitimate and objective factors”, leaving a significant loophole open for manufacturers, and the obligation to repair applies only for those few products already covered by repairability requirements under Ecodesign, anyway allowing the manufacturer to offer replacement over repair under guarantee if this is cheaper
- The Right to Repair Directive mandates that consumers are given access to information on the price of spare parts, and that spare parts are provided at a reasonable price… but the declared price will only be indicative and potentially overshot by manufacturers. The concept of a reasonable price is also not defined at EU level, leaving the responsibility to Member States or case law
- We will have repairability scores for our products, starting with smartphones under their Ecodesign Regulation… but these repair scores don’t include the price of spare parts as a parameter, making them significantly less relevant than, for example, the French repair index, which includes the price of spare parts in its scoring system
This is why we keep fighting to improve EU legislation and present policymakers with our key asks:
- Horizontal and ambitious Ecodesign repairability requirements that apply directly to several products
- A wide scope in the EU Right to Repair Directive without anti-repair loopholes
- A reasonable price for spare parts that is defined through clear criteria or guidelines
- A scoring system on repairability that includes the price of spare parts
- Financial measures at national level that promote repair, such as funds and bonuses
- A vision coherent with the waste hierarchy in the upcoming Circular Economy Act and revisions of EU waste policies
- Strict rules and checks on new products imported and sold through online marketplaces
- Economic support and fair competition for the repair and refurbishment sectors as key European industries
Read more in our two-page policy brief, our full policy paper, and our new webpage What’s my Right to Repair!