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About

• The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has introduced a right-to-repair portal and opened the National Consumer Helpline centre in the national capital.
• On the portal, manufacturers will share product details so that customers could either repair it by themselves, or by third parties, rather than depend on the original manufacturers.
  • In the starting, it will cover mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, automobiles and farming equipment.

Background

• Normally the manufacturers maintain control over the supply of spare parts, including their design.
• The Union government has raised concern over this, and stated that this kind of monopoly on repair processes violates the customer's "right to choose".
• Warranty cards of many products highlight that products repaired from the outside would not be recognized by the makers and the customers would also lose their warranty benefit.

Right to Repair

• The core value behind the 'Right to Repair' is that when customers buy a product, they own it completely, and they have the right to repair and modify the product with ease and at a reasonable cost, without being dependent on the manufacturers.
• The objective is to empower consumers, coordinate trade between the original equipment manufacturers and the third-party buyers and sellers, and reduce e-waste.
• The ‘Right to Repair’ has been recognised in many countries, including the US, UK and European Union

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has set up a committee to develop a comprehensive framework for the 'Right to Repair’. The Committee is chaired by Nidhi Khare.

• The members have discussed key issues including farming equipment, mobile phones/ tablets, consumer durables and automobiles/automobile equipment were listed out.
• They raised concerns over various issues including;

Several Companies avoid the publication of manuals that can help users to make repairs easily.

• • Manufacturers have control over spare parts.
  • Monopoly on repair parts and processes violates the customer's "right to choose".
• They discussed various international practices and steps that have been taken by other countries.
• The Committee has given many suggestions including
  • Companies should provide complete knowledge and access to manuals, and software updates.
  • The parts and tools of devices should be made available to third parties, including individuals so that the product can be repaired in case of minor issues.
• The Committee highlighted that once the “Right to Repair” is adopted in India, it will become a "game-changer" for the sustainability of the products and also promote employment generation.

Way Forward

• Many countries including the US, UK and European Union have recognised the right-to-repair policy.
• It will save consumers money and also save countries valuable resources.
• It could boost local economies and will reduce electrical waste.
• It will facilitate the circular economy by improving the life span, maintenance, re-use, upgrade, recyclability and waste handling of appliances.

https://www.thehindu.com/business/consumer-affairs-minister-goyal-unveils-right-to-repair-portal/article66302356.ece

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