The EU has just taken a big step toward establishing stronger “right to repair” rules, with the the European Parliament voting overwhelmingly in support of a resolution on a “sustainable single market,” according to iFixit.
The vote marks the latest major push toward the EU’s larger goals of making devices last longer and reducing e-waste. The EU Commission had announced plans earlier this year for new “right to repair” rules for phones, tablets, and laptops by 2021.
With the European Parliament having now approved the EU Commission’s original proposal, the ball is back in the commission’s court to “develop and introduce mandatory labelling, to provide clear, immediately visible and easy-to-understand information to consumers on the estimated lifetime and reparability of a product at the time of purchase.”
The resolution also advocates for increased availability of things like repair instructions and spare parts for both independent repair shops and individual consumers, in order to better facilitate repairs and extend the lifespan of devices.
It’ll still be some time before the EU Commission creates the actual rules here, and likely plenty of questions to be answered about what form those final rules will take in terms of things like labeling products, but if the commission does meet its original 2021 goal, we could be on the verge of practical rules in the near future.