14 Jul 2021 Right to Repair Movement

Right to Repair Movement

Context:

In recent years, countries around the world have been attempting to pass effective ‘right to repair’ laws.

The movement traces its roots back to the very dawn of the computer era in the 1950s.

The goal of the movement is to get companies to make spare parts, tools and information on how to repair devices available to customers and repair shops to increase the lifespan of products and to keep them from ending up in landfills.

About:

Right to Repair:

• The Right to Repair electronics refers to government legislation that is intended to allow consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer electronic devices, where otherwise the manufacturer of such devices require the consumer to use only their offered services.
• The idea originally originated from the USA where the Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act 2012, required the manufacturers to provide the necessary documents and information to allow anyone to repair their vehicles.

Benefits:

• This will help boost business for small repair shops, which are an important part of local economies.
• It will help reduce the vast mountain of electrical waste (e-waste) that piles up each year on the continent.
• It will save consumers’ money.
• It will contribute to circular economy objectives by improving the life span, maintenance, re-use, upgrade, recyclability and waste handling of appliances.

Reason for Encouraging the Movement:

• Electronic manufacturers are encouraging a culture of ‘planned obsolescence’.
• ‘Planned obsolescence means that devices are designed specifically to last a limited amount of time and to be replaced.
• This can lead to immense pressure on the environment and wasted natural resources.
• Manufacturing an electronic device is a highly polluting process. It makes use of polluting sources of energy, such as fossil fuel, which has an adverse impact on the environment.

Reason for Opposing:

• Large tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla have argued that opening up their intellectual property to third party repair services or amateur repairers could lead to exploitation and impact the safety and security of their devices.

Right to Repair Movement around the World:

• The United States President has signed an executive order calling on the Federal Trade Commission to curb restrictions imposed by manufacturers that limit consumers’ ability to repair their gadgets on their own terms.
• The UK, too, introduced right-to-repair rules that should make it much easier to buy and repair daily-use gadgets such as TVs and washing machines.

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Yojna IAS Current Affairs Team