MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), who have waited a year and a half for the Commission’s proposal to establish an effective right for consumers to have faulty products repaired in the EU, welcomed, on Monday 27 March, last week’s proposal for a directive, presented to them, by the EU Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders.
While right-wing MEPs were satisfied, left-wing MEPs said they would like to see more, especially to reduce the cost of repairs for consumers.
The proposed directive aims to promote an attractive right to repair and to complement the two March 2022 proposals - the ‘Ecodesign for Sustainable Products’ regulation and the directive that will encourage sustainable consumption by empowering consumers in the green transition (right to information on the durability of products and better protection against programmed obsolescence) -, Didier Reynders stressed (see EUROPE 13147/7).
The complementarity between these ‘jigsaw’ legislations was the Commissioner’s major argument in response to the main expectations expressed.
Recalling that the European Parliament had adopted an own-initiative resolution last year setting out what it was waiting for “to put pressure” (see EUROPE 12928/15), Anna Cavazzini said she supported the Commission, while pointing to “two weaknesses”: the cost of repair, “often cited by repairers as the main obstacle”, and the fact that the scope is limited to products covered by the forthcoming ‘Ecodesign for Sustainable Products’ regulation. “It’s going to take a long time”, she regretted.
Tomislav Sokol (EPP, Croatian), who is “delighted” with the text, said that the estimated savings for consumers, estimated at €176.5 billion over 15 years, “are enormous”, but he said he was “sceptical” about the possibility of adopting the directive before the next European elections.
He said that the main problem was planned obsolescence - to which Mr Reynders replied that the issue was being addressed in the review of consumer legislation proposed in March 2022 to empower consumers in the green transition.
Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Danish) said that national repair hubs will lead to more competition, but it is not clear that they will reduce the cost of spare parts. For products like washing machines, wouldn’t it be better to extend the warranty period to convince manufacturers to make sustainable products?, she questioned. For the Commissioner, “extending the legal guarantee will not help, given that 96% of defects occur 2 years after the purchase”. And here again, Mr Reynders said he was counting on the forthcoming ‘Ecodesign’ regulation, which aims to make products sustainable throughout their life cycle.
Asked by Anne-Sophie Pelletier (The Left, French) about incentives for repair, Mr Reynders said that the Ecodesign regulation would play this role. However, he acknowledged that “VAT and taxation are possible incentives” available to Member States. “We have tried to create the conditions for good competition with an open system”, he added.
René Repasi (S&D, German) expressed concern that harmonisation could have negative effects in terms of costs for consumers with weakened purchasing power in times of crisis.
Anna Cavazzini concluded the exchange by assuring that everything would be done in the Parliament to try to complete the legislation before the end of the mandate. She asked Mr Reynders to present to the parliamentary committee the draft text as it was conceived before going through the Regulatory Scrutiny Board (the body that advises the College of Commissioners: Editor’s note), so that it can be compared with the one presented. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)