The French government will struggle with the "planned obsolescence" of household appliances
The French government has published a decree according to which the consumer of consumer electronics should be informed before buying about how long the trouble-free operation of the device is designed. So the government hopes to end the rather common phenomenon of “planned obsolescence” when a purchased vacuum cleaner or coffee maker fails for no apparent reason. Since the cost of repairing such equipment is often comparable to the cost of a new one, the buyer often decides that it is much easier to buy a new vacuum cleaner than to mess around with repairing an old one.
This decree of the French government anticipates an even more radical step. Next year, manufacturers will be required to replace or repair a product that has not served for more than two years. In addition, for the buyer should be open information about how long it is planned to produce spare parts for devices sold. The penalty for concealing this information will be 15,000 euros.
A change in legislation was made thanks to the ecological lobby. French Minister of Ecology Segolene Royal generally agreed with the amendments, hoping that in the next two years there will be much less plastic waste at the dump than usual. However, the members of her party expressed doubt - how can it be proved that the device broke down precisely because the manufacturer “thought so”? And will it not mean that the number of lawsuits from manufacturers who disagree with the initiative will increase dramatically? And given the fact that the article of the French consumer code, which falls under the case of “planned obsolescence”, threatens the guilty with a substantial fine of 300,000 euros, lawsuits cannot be avoided at least.
Other specific amendments were made for discussion. If the manufacturer produces a smartphone every year, adding pixels to the screen resolution a bit, then this can be considered a trick in order to squeeze more money out of the buyer. And how can you explain why the number of pins in the gadget charger has changed, and as a result, the old cable has become useless? So far, the discussion in this vein has not led to concrete decisions, but journalists have noted that government intervention in the lives of citizens is increasing. One of the reasons for this is the anti-terrorism measures taken after the shooting of the editorial board of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
This decree of the French government anticipates an even more radical step. Next year, manufacturers will be required to replace or repair a product that has not served for more than two years. In addition, for the buyer should be open information about how long it is planned to produce spare parts for devices sold. The penalty for concealing this information will be 15,000 euros.
A change in legislation was made thanks to the ecological lobby. French Minister of Ecology Segolene Royal generally agreed with the amendments, hoping that in the next two years there will be much less plastic waste at the dump than usual. However, the members of her party expressed doubt - how can it be proved that the device broke down precisely because the manufacturer “thought so”? And will it not mean that the number of lawsuits from manufacturers who disagree with the initiative will increase dramatically? And given the fact that the article of the French consumer code, which falls under the case of “planned obsolescence”, threatens the guilty with a substantial fine of 300,000 euros, lawsuits cannot be avoided at least.
Other specific amendments were made for discussion. If the manufacturer produces a smartphone every year, adding pixels to the screen resolution a bit, then this can be considered a trick in order to squeeze more money out of the buyer. And how can you explain why the number of pins in the gadget charger has changed, and as a result, the old cable has become useless? So far, the discussion in this vein has not led to concrete decisions, but journalists have noted that government intervention in the lives of citizens is increasing. One of the reasons for this is the anti-terrorism measures taken after the shooting of the editorial board of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/377009/
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