(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The EU will introduce "consumer right to repair". European Parliament negotiators and EU countries reached an agreement on the night of Thursday (February 1) that in the future, manufacturers of a series of products such as refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, and mobile phones must provide repair services if consumers are willing to repair them. In other words, for the first time, the EU will enforce the legal right to repair typical daily necessities such as "white goods", mainly household appliances, and smartphones. This new rule is also of great benefit to environmental protection.

With this new regulation in place, repairing appliances will be easier and cheaper than buying new ones in the future. "We can no longer live in a throwaway society," said René Repasi, the European Parliament's negotiator.

Because many items cannot be repaired, consumers are forced to buy new items. In this case, European consumers produce 35 million tons of waste every year.

However, this new rule does not apply to all products. For example, headphones and furniture are not included. Specific legal provisions will be announced in the coming weeks.

This new regulation was developed with the idea that less goods are disposed of and thrown away, which means less waste and resource use in production. This will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The EU estimates that in the next 15 years, it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 18.5 million tons, save 1.8 million tons of resources, and reduce the generation of 3 million tons of waste.

The European Parliament has been advocating for the introduction of a right to repair for more than a decade, the European Parliament said. In April 2022, the European Parliament increased pressure and voted with an overwhelming majority to require that in the future, the product manufacturing process should ensure that products have a longer design life, are easier to repair, and that parts are easier to disassemble and replace.