24The Right-to-Repair Directive: A Quick Fix for the Linear Economy?

"Right to repair" (R2R) has become an important policy objective in European Union (EU) policy and law. The main objective of R2R is to remove barriers that inhibit consumers from repairing the products they own. The EU has made use of different regulatory frameworks to enforce R2R, most notably product regulation to induce design changes and ensure that spare parts and software updates are available to consumers. Several EU Member States have also adopted laws to support R2R, not least France, who has adopted a mandatory Repair Index for several product groups. In this contribution, we critically assess the Directive on common rules promoting the repair of goods ("R2RD"), which is the first substantial consumer law to address R2R in the EU. The R2RD provides certain rights to consumers in relation to R2R, promoting the repair of viable defective goods purchased by consumers within and beyond the legal guarantee of conformity in the Sale of Goods Directive. We find that the R2RD makes several contributions to support R2R, such as mandates for producers to offer repair options beyond the period of the legal guarantee, obligations that parts and tools need to be sold to independent repairers "at a reasonable price", and by introducing important rules related to software practices and reused parts. We however find that the Directive has several shortcomings. Some provisions allow for exemptions, creating legal unclarity, and some rules in the Directive only applies to products groups subject to requirements in product legislation – whereas most products fall outside the legal scope. Thus, while the R2RD contains some novel measures, its effect on promoting repair is likely to be limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]