A new British right to repair law came into force on 1st July 2021. The law requires manufacturers to make spare parts available for consumers and third-party repair companies. You might have been looking forward to it if you own a smartphone and a laptop since that means you can easily get them repaired without having to look for second-hand parts. But don’t get too excited just yet, because well, no phone and computers are included in the British right to repair law.
The UK law states that “Spare parts will have to be available within two years of an appliance going on sale, and up until either seven or 10 years after the product has been discontinued, depending on the part. Some parts will only be available to professional repairers, while others will be available to everyone, so you can fix it yourself.” The law ensures that spares are available to consumers with the objective of extending the lifespan of products by up to 10 years. This would also ensure that the manufacturers can’t deliberately build appliances that might break down after a certain time and force the consumers to buy new products. The law covers a list of appliances that can be repaired including dishwashers, washing machines and dryers, refrigeration appliances, televisions, and other electronic displays. These would make it easier for consumers to repair their old appliances without having to buy new ones even if the products are not in production anymore.
While you may be wondering, maybe smartphones are included in the “other electronic displays” category cause well, they are made up of electronic displays but sorry to burst your bubble here but these product categories are excluded. It’s not just the smartphones, cookers, hobs, tumble dryers, and microwaves are also not included which makes one wonder maybe this is all some lobbying scheme by some big tech companies in the market…