France repairability rating: A new tool to extend product lifetimes

Many electronics have lifetimes of nearly 2.3 years shorter than desired. This phenomenon is referred to as planned obsolescence—a deliberate ploy by manufacturers and designers to design products in a way that reduces their practical usage lifetime, thereby increasing their replacement rate. The consequence of planned obsolescence is borne by consumers and drives the consumption of electronics. Currently, the average EU citizen consumes 18 kilograms of electrical and electronic products per year. Repairability is one of the key features of a circular economy. Nonetheless, 60% of personal electronics items and household appliances are discarded or recycled after they break down due to practical challenges involving repair.

In a concerted effort to transition towards a circular economy, France, in 2021, introduced a repair rating for a host of electronic items, such as smartphones, televisions, laptop computers, front-loading washing machines and lawn mowers. By 2024 the list is expected to cover more items and the label will be replaced by a durability rating.

In 2022, the NGO Stop Obsolescence, launched an evaluation of the repairability index. In their evaluation, they concluded that 55% of the survey respondents are familiar with the index and 66% of consumers found it to be helpful for making their purchase decision, suggesting the repairability index has already had an effect on consumer behaviour. The index can be further improved by enhancing transparency: avoiding that products with a high score lack incentives to improve and by verifying whether it is true that there are very few products with low scores.