Australia joins other countries to look into establishing a formal ‘Right to Repair’.
The “Right to Repair” is gaining global traction with legislation passed in France and Austria. The EU Parliament recently voted in favour of a “Right to Repair”, seeking to make products more durable and easier to repair and recycle, and by providing consumers with more rights and information, as part of Europe’s Green Deal.
This month the Australian Government Productivity Commission has now started a similar process. It has issued a paper to ask for submission on ‘Right to Repair’.
The Commission’s paper states: “In recent years, concerns have been raised around the world that repairs of consumer products are becoming more difficult (sometimes impossible), and that this is resulting in costly and wasteful outcomes for both consumers and broader society. In part, this has led to the creation of numerous ‘repair cafes’ around Australia and a growing network of self-repair hobbyists.”
The Commission has now been tasked to assess the costs and benefits of a right to repair for Australia. The assessment will include the impact that regulatory or policy changes could have on market offerings for repair services and replacement products.
- whether there are regulatory, or manufacturer imposed barriers to accessing repair services, including the role of embedded software, intellectual property and commercially sensitive knowledge in limiting access to repairs, as well as trade-offs with more competitive markets and innovation
- the impacts of waste (especially e-waste generated from the disposal of consumer electronics and household goods) on the environment and community, and the current arrangements for the disposal and management of e-waste. This will include the examination of the effect of premature and planned product obsolescence on the growth of e-waste.
The Australian Government Productivity Commission’s deadline for initial submissions and comments is 1 February 2021 with the first draft report expected to be released in June 2021.
The full paper is available here.
