The EU’s battle against planned obsolescence continues. The European Commission, in fact, is working on a new law that aims to counteract a very widespread practice aimed at accelerating the cycle of replacement of electronic products. Therefore, a proposal for an EU directive against planned obsolescence will soon arrive. Here are the full details:
New law against planned obsolescence coming from the EU
LEU continues to work to tackle planned obsolescence. A new proposal is coming from the Commission to counter this practice which will follow the package of measures already presented in March and which obliges manufacturers to inform customers about the durability and repairability of products.
For the future, the EU is aiming for increase the list of prohibited commercial practices in the internal market. In the future, it will not be possible to omit information regarding the introduction of software that disrupts or degrades the functionality of the asset after a certain period of time.
It will not be possible to make generic and vague environmental claims. It will not be possible to make an environmental declaration concerning a product as a whole if this declaration actually concerns only one component. It should be noted that it will not be possible to display a sustainability label which is voluntary and not based on a third party verification system.
The comment
Thierry Breton, European commissioner for the internal market, during the press conference at the EU Parliament, commented: “We are working on eco-design to prevent the planned obsolescence of smartphones and tablets. Some companies would like us to change our smartphone every three years, we understand them, but it is not the consumers’ point of view nor ours, in terms of taking care of the environment now “