Reforming Extended Producer Responsibility Schemes to Promote Repair

Affordability of repair is a crucial aspect of a universal right to repair. The so-called Right to Repair Directive (EU 2024/1799) that EU member states need to transpose into national legislation by July 2026 begins to address this point, but still insufficiently. Meanwhile, various countries are tackling high repair costs at the national level by introducing repair funds and bonus systems to partially subsidise repair costs (see our overview of repair funds).

Repair bonuses and other financial incentives can contribute to make repair more accessible and have been widely successful after their implementation (e.g. in France and Austria), but their introduction is often hindered by a lack of public financial resources. So what if producers were required to provide funds instead?

We at Right to Repair Europe together with our members Runder Tisch Reparatur (RTR), Germanwatch and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) discuss how Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) could be reformed to promote repair in our recent paper summarised in this article, providing policy recommendations for the EU and national governments.