France is introducing a repairability index for electronic devices on January 1, 2021. This tool will help fight waste and planned obsolescence while offering users a new purchasing criterion.
Credits: Capture site Repairability index
In November 2020, we talked about the implementation of a repairability index for smartphones, PCs, TVs and tablets from January 2021. Finally, this index will be affixed to televisions, smartphones, laptops, mowers lawn and washing machines. To measure this repairability, a score between 1 to 10 will be awarded and affixed to each electronic product.
This index will be calculated by the manufacturers according to several criteria: the quality and clarity of the documentation provided, the ease of repairing the device in question, the availability of spare parts, and finally the relationship between the most expensive spare part and the initial price of the product.
Read also: Planned obsolescence – a repairability index for smartphones and PCs mandatory from 2020
Controls to ensure the honesty of builders
Note that another criterion will also be taken into account in the case of certain devices. Thus, it will be for example the number of cycles for a washing machine, while it will be the duration of software support for smartphones and laptops. “In the entire life cycle of a device, the phase that consumes the most CO2 emissions is manufacturing. So the longer the devices last, the more we will be able to repair them, and the less CO2 we will emit in total ”, explains Régis Koenig, director of service policy at Darty, to our colleagues from France 3.
But how can we be sure that this index will be determined with reliability by the manufacturers? In order to avoid any cheating on this note, State services will carry out random checks. In the event of fraud or obvious failure, manufacturers may be fined up to € 15,000. A sanction that consumer defense associations consider insufficient.
As a reminder, this desire to introduce a new repairability index has been on the government’s cards since 2018. The main idea is to drastically reduce the production of waste, to fight against waste, and extend the life of electronic devices. With this new index, the authorities also hope to encourage manufacturers to change their way of producing, so as to make their devices easier to repair.
Source: France Info
