Right to repair: real soon now?

[RobertArthur]

From 31 July 2026 – that is, from tomorrow - the new ‘right to repair’ will come into force. This new EU directive, strengthens your rights in the event of faults in standard household appliances that break down after the statutory two-year warranty period has expired.

The new right to repair applies only to certain product groups, 16 different types of electrical appliances. They must (should?) be repairable within a reasonable period of time at a reasonable price applies. For seven or ten years from the date on which the respective model was placed on the market.

When you read that, as a keen DIYer, you might think: that requires quite a lot in terms of product design and manufacturing. And above all: where do you find skilled techicians? The latest generation of lightweight laptops comes with memory soldered directly onto the motherboard, and the hard drive – nowadays an SSD – suffers the same fate. It’ll take a clever lad or lass to sort that out ‘in a jiffy’.

Smartphones, once very easy (Nokia) to replace a battery. Since 2025 not longer a well guarded Apple top secret: to obey to EU regs now available as an official Apple manual. It explains the approved method for replacing the battery. Special little srcews in hiding, glue, don't use too much force .... The only problem is that you need more than 1,000 euros’ worth of specialised tools to do it. And also a keen eysight and several hours. How low can you go in price? Much lower. The guide of our iFixit friends shows how to remove the iPhone battery using tools costing just a few tens. The downside is that, whereas the Apple guide involves 32 steps, the iFixit method involves as many as 62.

Yes Ms Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, we have obeyed your orders.....