Consumer's right to repair is central to ownership and product care

Boxes of joy come in many forms. It could be a new phone in light mauve that feels like a part of your soul, a music system or a headphone cool enough to sit tight on the head, cancelling out the noise around. They last until a new one tempts the wallet. Yet, a shop in Gurugram’s Vyapar Kendra is a reminder of the fragility of human creations — despite all the hard engineering inside what were once essentials. Stacks of electronic devices take up all the space, with only a corner chair left for the meticulous Sunil Kumar to wire life into a gadget lying on his counter.

 

A Sony music system that did not work for nine long years came alive again, with parts procured by Kumar and tenderly fitted by him, bringing back the joy of repairing. The master craftsman had accepted it with the disclaimer that it might well be a dead end for the gadget that had gathered dust all these years.

 

While a consumer’s right to repair is intrinsic to ownership of a product, getting a broken item to work also manifests “mindful utilisation” of products instead of “wasteful consumption”.

 

Repairs are weighed against the cost of replacement. Like anything else, how much a replaceable part costs and what the labour charge is influence the decision to junk a gadget. A new replacement costing a little more is worth the price because it will offer the latest in technology, or fashion, or would have more features.

 

Sometimes, it is the sheer effort of getting something repaired that makes one junk a product. But mounds of broken equipment and gadgets not only look ugly — they also present a scary picture of the amount of space and resources that objects of human creation take; multiple times more than what humans themselves occupy.

 

A committee under the Department of Consumer Affairs has designed a Repairability Index for the mobile and electronic sector based on six criteria: Disassembly depth, repair information, availability of spare parts within a reasonable timeline, software updates, tools, and fasteners (types and availability). A scorecard of a product would be asked to be displayed at the sales counter, on the e-commerce platform, or on the package itself.

 

On May 2, Belgium became the second country in Europe after France to implement a Repairability Index. The Belgian index is mandatory for pressure washers and laptops (excluding tablets). It also assigns a score from 1 to 10 to products like dishwashers, vacuums, and lawnmowers, allowing buyers to make a conscious choice based on a product’s repairability. The country is also expected to extend the index to bicycles — especially electric ones — as well as electric scooters in the future.

 

The onus of making a product’s repairability known is, obviously, on the manufacturer, and stems from the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR). Not many know that the government’s Right to Repair Portal India was created about three years ago to provide repair-related information. Around 65 companies from four sectors — automobile, mobile and electronics, consumer durables, and farm equipment — have registered on the portal and share this information. But what may be repairable today may not be so in the future, as the production line for a particular part may cease to exist.

 

Extending the lifespan of products serves the purpose of environmental sustainability as well. A circular economy ensures that the use of the Earth’s resources is optimised, while limiting the environmental impact of such use.

 

Once the product is not in use, producers are also regulated through the grant of registration certificate and issue of recycling targets, which serve as an obligation under EPR. These targets are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under E-waste (Management) Rules that were first brought about in 2016 and then revised in 2022 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

 

A producer is required to purchase EPR certificates online from registered recyclers and submit quarterly returns.

 

While these steps may not take care of dumping of devices, consumer products and e-waste in the immediate future, they could bring about a culture that cherishes the joy of repairs and the fulfilment of a responsibility towards the Earth.

 

        

The author is a former journalist