Consumer Empowerment And Sustainability: The Right to Repair Directive

As part of the European Union’s Green Deal and its objective for fostering an environmentally sustainable circular economy, on the 13^th of June 2024, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on common rules promoting the repair of goods (“Right to Repair Directive” or the “Directive”) which entered into force on the 30^th of July 2024.

The Right to Repair Directive is a direct extension and compliments the recently enacted legislation including the Eco-design for Sustainability Products Regulation 2024/1781 which focuses on product design, mandating that products be manufactured with repairability in mind as well as the Directive EU/2024/825 on Empowering Consumers in the Green Transition, which seeks to provide consumers with enhanced information on the durability and reparability of goods at the point of sale.

Which are the economic operators and product categories affected by the Right to Repair Directive?

The obligations and reparability requirements stemming from the Right to Repair Directive are imposed upon manufacturers and authorised representatives of manufacturers, importers and distributors of the goods listed in Annex II of the Directive which includes inter alia – washing machines and dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators, mobile phones and cordless phones.

What are the obligations of targeted economic operators and what are Consumers rights under the Right to Repair Directive?

Article 5 of the Directive imposes upon the targeted economic operators the obligation, insofar as it is possible, to repair the damaged goods outside the legal guarantee¹The legal guarantee under Directive 2019/771, the seller is liable to the consumer for any lack of conformity which exists at the time when the goods were delivered, and which becomes apparent within two years of that time, free of charge or for a reasonable price and within a reasonable period of time from the moment the manufacturer has physical possession of the good, has received the good or has been given access to the good by the consumer²Article 5(2) (a) & (b) (Directive). The right to repair goods is also available to consumers even if the good has been previously repaired³Article 5(7) (Directive).

The economic operators may also loan consumers a replacement of the good/s being repaired free of charge or for a reasonable fee for the duration of the repair. In cases where the repair is impossible, the manufacturer may offer the consumer a refurbished good.

In order to enhance transparency Article 5(5) of the Directive imposes upon manufacturers, or, where applicable, authorised representatives, importers or distributors who have an obligation to repair pursuant to this Article,  an obligation to ensure that consumers can access, via a free access website, information on the indicative prices that are charged for the typical repair of goods which information should be easily accessible, clear and comprehensible.

It should be noted that the Directive does not prejudice the consumer’s right to seek repair from any repairer of their choice. However, the Directive fails to set out who would bear the expenses in relation to the repair if sought independently. As a directive, the obligations set out therein should serve as a guideline for Member States and thus, any specific obligations arising therefrom require an implementing measure. Therefore, it would be desirable for the Maltese legislator to address these grey areas without introducing any obligations which diverge from those set out in the Directive⁴Article 3 (Directive), to ensure clarity and fairness in the distribution of repair costs and to provide clear guidelines for both consumers and repairers in Malta.

In order to enhance accessibility and consumer empowerment, the Directive establishes a new online European Repair Platform which seeks to provide a centralised, user-friendly resource for consumers to find repairers and, where applicable, sellers of refurbished goods, purchasers of defective goods for refurbishment or community-led repair initiatives.

Finally, of particular importance is the extension of the two (2) year legal warranty established under the Sale of Goods Directive 2019/771. The amendment introduced by the Directive provides consumers with an extra year of the legal guarantee if they choose to repair the product. This seeks to further incentivising consumers to choose repair instead of replacing it whilst the goods are still covered by the legal guarantee⁵Article 16(2) (a) (Directive).

Implementation Period and Way Forward

Member States are to transpose the directive into national law by not later than July 31, 2026. Despite this, as at date of this article, at national level, the legislator and the national competent authorities have not announced or presented any draft legislation implementing this Directive.

The Right to Repair Directive can be accessed through here.