Why the right to repair our devices is so important

IMAGE: Nicolas Messifet — Unsplash

After several years in the pipeline, the European Union has overwhelmingly approved legislation guaranteeing consumers the right to repair electronic devices when they are damaged or go wrong. The new law will enshrine the right to repair by setting out warranty periods, as well as obliging manufacturers to make things in such a way that they can be repaired reasonably easily, while requiring them to provide the spare parts to do so,.

Repairability is fundamental to innovation, and hindering it is often interpreted as an attempt to monopolize the provision of this service, but also with generally abusive issues such as built-in obsolescence and por sustainability.

Any number of consumer electronics brands have tried, over time, to make it difficult to repair their products through different types of tactics, from requiring their own spare parts to be used or building them in such a way as to prevent or make it very difficult to access certain components.

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