This report finds that there are significant and unnecessary barriers to repair for some products. It proposes a suite of measures that aim to enhance consumers’ right to repair while providing net benefits to the community.
A ‘right to repair’ is the ability of consumers to have their products repaired at a competitive price using a repairer of their choice. Realising this aspiration in a practical way involves a range of policies, including consumer and competition law, intellectual property protections, product labelling, and environmental and resource management.
Consumers already have rights to have their products repaired, replaced or refunded, and to access spare parts and repair facilities, under consumer guarantees in the Australian Consumer Law. These guarantees are reasonably comprehensive and generally work well, but they should be improved by:
introducing a new guarantee for manufacturers to provide software updates for a reasonable time period after the product has been purchased, to reflect the increasing dependence of consumer products on embedded software
expanding options for ensuring compliance with, and enforcement of, the guarantees to assist individual consumers to resolve their claims and for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to address systemic breaches of consumer guarantees
requiring manufacturer warranties to include text stating that entitlements to a remedy under the consumer guarantees do not require consumers to have previously used authorised repair services or spare parts, so that consumers are more aware of their rights.
There are several opportunities to give independent repairers greater access to repair supplies, and increase competition for repair services, without compromising public safety or discouraging innovation. To this end, the Australian Government should:
require suppliers of agricultural machinery to provide access to certain repair supplies to reduce the harm of the pervasive barriers to accessing these inputs
undertake more detailed investigations into specific product markets (including mobile phones and tablets, and medical devices) to better understand the extent of harm and examine whether additional regulation would yield net benefits.
amend copyright laws to facilitate the accessing and sharing of repair information (such repair manuals, and repair data hidden behind digital locks).
A lack of consumer information about a product’s repairability or durability is likely to make it difficult for some consumers to select more repairable and durable products based on their preferences, while reducing manufacturers’ incentives to develop such products. To address this issue:
the Australian Government (in consultation with consumer, environmental, and industry groups) should introduce a product labelling scheme that provides repairability and/or durability information for consumers. A pilot scheme should target a limited number of white goods and consumer electronics products.
There is also scope to improve the way products are managed over their life, to reduce e‑waste ending up in landfill. In particular, the Government should amend product stewardship schemes to allow for reused e‑waste to be counted in scheme targets. Further, the use of electronic trackers within product stewardship schemes should increase, to improve awareness of the end‑of‑life location of e‑waste and ensure it is being sent to environmentally‑sound facilities.