“A practice that is good for the planet, good for the consumer,” rejoices the Stop Planned Obsolescence association.

“It’s true that there was almost unanimity because we are on a practice that is good for the planet, good for the consumer”welcomes Tuesday April 23 on franceinfo Samuel Sauvage, co-founder of the association Stop planned obsolescence after the “right to repair” established by the European Union. MEPs voted for new rules aimed at encouraging consumers to repair defective smartphones or household appliances rather than throwing them away and buying new ones. The text was adopted by a very large majority (584 votes for, three votes against).

Samuel Sauvage is delighted that the manufacturer is now “obligated to repair an object even outside the warranty period for a reasonable price and time”. According to him, “now there will be a ban on all obstacles to repair” because “Independent repairers were often hampered in their ability to repair objects.” “There is now an extension of the one-year warranty when you choose to repair an object after a breakdown, rather than choosing to buy a new device”details the co-founder of the association Stop planned obsolescence. For him, “these are all measures which will promote repairs in Europe”.

The French Repair Bonus is “starting to grow”

He welcomes the implementation in France of the Repair Bonus, a year ago especially since this system “starting to have babies” because after the text voted on Tuesday, “all European states will have to imagine a system like this to support reparation.”

“It’s really important that we rebalance the choice of the consumer, who very often finds themselves having to buy new out of spite, because it’s too expensive to repair when common sense is to repair.” Discarded repairable products represent around 35 million tonnes of waste in the EU each year. However, according to a study by the European Commission, 77% of European citizens would prefer to repair their products rather than buy new ones. This would save them money: European consumers lose around 12 billion euros per year by buying a new good instead of repairing the old one.