The "right to repair" has been discussed for several years both in Europe and in the United States of America. The basic idea is for electronics manufacturers, especially phones, to enable and support more efficient and cheaper device repair. A recent law can be an excellent catalyst for this endeavor.
In France, the government is considering banning early smartphone switching by law. In its current form, it is a measure to reduce their impact on the environment. And the law also targets telecom operators, who try to attract customers to longer, higher subscriptions with offers on new phones.
At least for phones, those released in the last three years and in the mid-to-high range are still good enough for most users. The French legislative approach is also based on this reality.
For now, the French law would target operators who use new phones as a motivating factor for subscriptions, according to Reuters. But it may set an important precedent for manufacturers to stand up for the right to repair your devices more easily, cheaply.
The French government claims the aim is to increase the lifespan of phones. According to the executive's estimates, smartphone manufacturing is responsible for 75% of the negative impact on the environment. This includes carbon dioxide emissions, but also the consumption of water and other natural resources.
The right to use your device as much as you need
By 2021, France is also aiming to introduce a "repair index" for phones, laptops, TVs, washing machines and lawnmowers. As the name suggests, you know exactly how easy or difficult it is to fix something.
Among all the manufacturers, Apple has stood out the most by imposing software limitations or even keeping the ecosystem closed, leading to worse free market components. The manufacturer claims that by opening up the repair market, the repaired product would no longer work as well.
However, there are components that could be changed and that device could work longer and almost as well. First it's the battery, then the screen, and in the case of laptops it's the keyboard, the RAM memory or the storage medium.
A survey published in October 2020 showed that around two-thirds considered the longevity of an appliance as a deciding factor when buying a product. Just over half (58%) said a repair label, if available, would play a decisive role in the purchase.