Today, the European Commission adopted a new proposal on common rules promoting the repair of goods, which will result in savings for consumers and support the objectives of the European Green Deal by reducing waste, among others. Over the last decades, replacement has often been prioritised over repair whenever products become defective and insufficient incentives have been given to consumers to repair their goods when the legal guarantee expires. The proposal will make it easier and more cost-effective for consumers to repair as opposed to replace goods. Additionally, more demand will translate into a boost to the repair sector while incentivising producers and sellers to develop more sustainable business models.
As they say. In the current system it doesn’t reward to make a phone as Fairphone does. It’s more rewarding to glue a phone shut, make it hard to repair, and release a new model e.g. every 6 months (even if the changes are small). We have an anti-economy.
But of course, voting with your wallet for change like this will not get us there. We need to change the economic game.
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It’s a good step in the right direction. I wonder how expensive the parts will be and how easy it will be to repair these phones. For now I think Fairphone will remain the gold standard for repairability.