Right to Repair — Directive (EU) 2024/1799

Directive (EU) 2024/1799 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on common rules promoting the repair of goods is part of the European Green Deal. Its aim is to extend the life cycle of products, make repairs more accessible and transparent, and reduce the amount of electronic waste. The Directive entered into force on 30 July 2024; member states are required to apply the national provisions implementing it no later than 31 July 2026.

The primary obligation to provide repair rests with the manufacturer. The obligation is transferable along the supply chain: if the manufacturer is not established in the EU, it passes to its authorised representative in the EU; if none is appointed, to the importer; if there is no importer, to the distributor. A seller who places goods on the market under its own brand (private label) is considered a manufacturer for the purposes of the Directive.

The post-warranty repair obligation applies to the product categories listed in Annex II of the Directive: household washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, refrigerating appliances, electronic displays, welding equipment, vacuum cleaners, servers and data storage products, mobile phones, cordless phones and tablets, household tumble dryers, and goods containing batteries for light means of transport (e-bikes, e-scooters). The European Commission is entitled to extend the list to further categories.

• •Obligation to repair: the manufacturer must, at the consumer's request, carry out post-warranty repair of products listed in Annex II, at a reasonable price.
• •European Repair Information Form (ERIF): the repairer may provide it to the consumer free of charge; if provided, the stated conditions — in particular the price and repair time — are binding on the repairer for 30 calendar days.
• •Spare parts: manufacturers that offer spare parts must provide them at a reasonable price. Availability of spare parts itself is governed by the ecodesign regulations for the individual products.
• •Ban on practices that hinder repair: contractual, hardware, or software techniques that hinder repair (e.g. software part pairing) are prohibited, unless justified by legitimate and objective reasons.
• •Extension of the seller's liability period: if the consumer chooses repair instead of replacement when claiming a defect, the seller's liability period is extended by 12 months. This rule belongs to the legal guarantee, not to post-warranty repair.
• •European repair platform: the Directive establishes a central online platform for finding repairers.

In the Czech Republic, the Directive is implemented by the Act on the Repair of Products (Chamber of Deputies print no. 62). The supervisory authority is the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (Česká obchodní inspekce); breaches of the obligations carry a fine of up to CZK 5,000,000.

ELOEE provides obligated businesses under the cascade described above with the digital infrastructure needed to fulfil these obligations: receiving repair requests, generating the ERIF form, tracking repair status, and maintaining an audit archive of documentation, and gives consumers an easy way to exercise their right to repair.