Right to repair household appliances: implementation underway

Making it easier to repair a range of products – including household appliances and smartphones –, requiring manufacturers to offer quick and reasonably priced repairs, promoting incentives, extending the warranty by one year after repairs, and banning technical or legal obstacles to repairs and the use of independent spare parts. These are some of the main objectives of EU Directive 2024/1799 , which promotes the right to repair consumer goods, whose implementation was included in the European delegation's bill approved by the Council of Ministers on July 22. The path to full implementation is only just beginning: the bill will have to pass through Parliament, and even after its approval, the principles established by the directive will not actually come into force in Italy until July 31, 2026 .

For example, Italian regulations could provide specific remedies to protect consumers if the repairer fails to perform the repair after the customer has accepted the repair form, as required by the directive. At the same time, an effective penalty system could be defined and a supervisory and control system established to ensure the correct application of the new rules, integrating them with existing legislation.

The Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (MIMIT) highlights that work on transposition is underway. Regarding implementing measures, Italy is expected to join the European online repair platform (not create a national one), populating the relevant national section.

Furthermore, the directive requires Member States to provide at least one measure to promote remediation, but currently no incentives are envisaged for the Italian supply chain in this regard, although Member States will have to notify the European Commission of the measures taken by 31 July 2029.

According to Davide Rossi, general director of Aires (Italian Association of Specialized Appliance Retailers) and EuCer Council, the Association of Consumer Electronics Retailers in Europe, " Right to Repair should be interpreted as both the consumer 's right to repair and the right of independent operators to offer repairs. We hope for a clear decree that addresses repair prices and incentives. Today," Rossi explains, "the price of spare parts is set by suppliers: if replacing an original screen costs 80% of the price of a new product, no one will do it. Spare part prices must be regulated with a reasonable margin. Furthermore, full availability of technical manuals is needed, as well as the ability to produce some non-patented components with 3D printers ."