France to tackle the cost of repairs
May 31, 2021
The French anti-waste and circular economy legislation will create a fund dedicated to the financing of repairs.
France plans to introduce the repair fund for electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) like printers and computers etc., on the 1 January 2022 via the countries Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) channels. The fund will provide a reduction in the repair bills paid by consumers.
In a survey [in French] published on the halt obsolescence programme (HOP) website, 63% of French people said that lower repair costs could encourage them to repair their defective products. The measure is intended to improve the demand for repairs and ultimately extend the life of the products.
It is envisaged that producers will contribute to the repair fund for each product they sell in the French market. The repair fund will be managed by French eco-organisations responsible for their corresponding sectors.
The consumer will be entitled to a significant reduction (minimum 20%) of their repair bill when using an approved (by the eco-organisation) repairer. The reduction will apply to all out-of-warranty repairs for eligible products, without any exclusions like the number of repairs undertaken or battery replacements.
From the repair fund, the eco-organisation will reimburse the approved repairer for the discounts given to the consumers.
According to HOP, “this label[accreditation] must be free for independent repairers.” HOP is also calling for “the need for transparency” “so that the assistance provided by the fund does not increase repair prices.”
Further, HOP is calling for the repair fund to establish shared tools to promote repair, including the collection of data on the prices of repairs to make it possible to identify the most frequent breakdowns.”
Final details of how the fund will operate have not yet been published.
Since the beginning of 2021, France has required manufacturers of specific electronic devices, including smartphones and laptops, to tell consumers how repairable their products are. This “repairability index,” is based on a range of criteria, including how easy it is to take the product apart and the availability of spare parts and technical documents.
You can check out the “repairability index,” here. Printers are not currently part of the index, but it is envisaged that the EEE repair fund levy will cover them as EEE.
Categories : World Focus
Tags : EEE France HOP repair fund repairability index
