Right to Repair Directive (R2R)

The Right to Repair Directive (R2R) is the EU law that gives consumers an effective right to have goods repaired, both during and after the legal guarantee period, with the aim of extending product lifetimes, reducing waste and supporting the circular economy. It was adopted as Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on 13 June 2024, entered into force on 30 July 2024, and Member States must apply their transposing rules from 31 July 2026.

The directive began life as a 2023 Commission proposal (COM/2023/155) and complements wider EU product policy, in particular the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Digital Product Passport (DPP).

What the directive aims to do

The core idea is to make repair a more accessible and attractive option than replacement. To do that, the directive:

• Promotes repair beyond the legal guarantee, so consumers can ask manufacturers to repair products that are technically repairable under EU law.
• Improves access to repair by requiring more transparency on repair services and prices.
• Encourages reuse and reduces premature disposal of products such as electrical and electronic equipment, a fast-growing waste stream in the EU.

Key obligations

• Obligation to repair: producers must repair, on request and for a price or free of charge, products covered by EU repairability requirements (for example certain household appliances and electronic devices), even after the legal guarantee has expired.
• Access to spare parts and information: manufacturers must make spare parts, tools and repair information available to independent repairers and, where appropriate, to consumers, and may not use contractual, hardware or software techniques that unjustifiably block independent repair.
• European repair information form: on request, repairers provide a standardised form setting out repair conditions and an indicative price, so consumers can compare offers.
• Online repair platform: Member States set up national sections of an EU online platform to help consumers find repairers, sellers of refurbished goods and community repair initiatives.
• Guarantee incentive: when a consumer chooses repair over replacement within the legal guarantee, the guarantee is extended by 12 months, nudging repair as the default.

Which products are covered

The repair obligation applies to product categories for which EU law sets repairability requirements. At entry into force these included goods such as household washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerating appliances, vacuum cleaners, certain servers and, notably, smartphones and tablets. The list is designed to grow over time as new ecodesign and repairability requirements are adopted under the ESPR.

Relationship with the reparability index and the DPP

The R2R Directive does not, by itself, create a single EU-wide reparability score. Repairability scoring and minimum design requirements are mainly set through ecodesign rules under the ESPR and through national schemes (France, for example, operates a repairability index). The Digital Product Passport is expected to make repair manuals and product information easier to access, reinforcing the directive in practice. For context on the broader scoring concept, see the repairability index.

Why it matters for businesses

For manufacturers and retailers, the directive means rethinking product design for durability and disassembly, organising spare-parts logistics, and being transparent about repair conditions and prices. Done well, repair can become a service revenue stream and a reputational asset; done poorly, it is a compliance and enforcement risk, as Member States set penalties for non-compliance. It also connects to wider obligations under extended producer responsibility and EU waste rules.

How to prepare

• Map which of your products fall, or will fall, under EU repairability requirements.
• Review designs for modularity, spare-parts availability and ease of disassembly.
• Set up spare-parts supply and a process to issue the European repair information form.
• Track transposition in the Member States where you sell, since national rules apply from 31 July 2026.

The Right to Repair Directive places reparability at the centre of EU product and circular economy policy. At Manglai we help companies measure their environmental impact and prepare their sustainability reporting in line with EU rules. Discover how Manglai can help you.