“We want to standardize sustainability by design for products. We make a product’s service life and repairability a recognizable feature of the product’s properties (right to repair).” This is what is said in the traffic light coalition agreement. Nevertheless, the federal government did not ensure momentum and expansion in the negotiations for the right to repair at EU level, but rather pulled the handbrake. According to Taj, this emerged from documents that the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) requested on the basis of the Freedom of Information Act (IFG). Directives agreed between the ministries responsible for negotiations in the EU Council of Ministers showed that the executive branch had spoken in favor of a shorter guarantee period.
Advertisement
Thousands come to BlueSky for X change“Germany has been critical of the obligation of Member States to take at least one reparation-promoting measure in addition to the reporting obligation,” quotes taj From a paper. The documents also show that there was a particularly bad atmosphere between the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ), led by Marco Buschmann (FDP), and the Department for the Environment and Consumer Protection (BMUV), led by Green Party Steffi. Lemke. In response to the IFG request, the BMJ identified mainly business-friendly targets.
For example, it aimed to impose higher fines, require manufacturers to provide a replacement product for the period of repair, and prevent repair rights from being extended to other product groups. BMUV is said to have attempted the opposite, but was not successful in all areas. According to the Right to Repair Directive, which the EU Parliament passed in April, this right only applies to products for which relevant requirements with an ecodesign approach already exist in EU law. These are smartphones, tablets, servers, screens, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, refrigerators and welding machines, and soon even vacuum cleaners. MPs wanted to expand this list to include bicycles, but European Union countries were against it.
“Commercial interests brought into conversation”
However, despite criticism from the federal government, each EU country must introduce at least one measure to promote repairs, such as vouchers, courses, information campaigns or lowering the VAT rate on repair services. There have been repeated calls in this country to introduce a nationwide repair bonus for electrical equipment based on the Thuringia model. Member states must implement the directive over the next two years. Leading BMJ told Taz that it was working on it. However, details cannot be given yet. OKF’s Maximilian Voigt complained that the FDP had “introduced economic interests into the negotiations through the BMJ”. Many people wished they could repair things instead of replacing them. However, the issue has not been adequately addressed by politicians.
“Especially when you look at what other countries are doing, it’s disappointing that there isn’t much progress being made here,” says Katrin Meyer of Round Table Repair. According to the report, they expect the government to now use its prerogatives to push for greater consumer protection when implementing EU requirements into national law: extensions to other product categories, for what the cost of spare parts may be. A clear outline and a bonus are possible and necessary. So far, to the irritation of the Greens, the executive has not even been able to agree on the long-promised action program to “repair rather than throw away”.
(Never)
Thousands come to BlueSky for X change
