No more cheating customers and aging products. The EU gives a signal to producers

Just a decade ago, intentional obsolescence or planned failure of products was rather speculative. Gradually, however, more and more evidence began to emerge that some manufacturers actually design their devices in such a way that they are fully operational only for a limited period of time. From a published document in 2020, the German environmental authority (Umweltbundesamt; UBA) shows that the average life of washing machines is 13 years, refrigerators – 14 years, and microwave ovens – only 5 to 6 years. A large part of the products after this time begins to fail.

As a result, the consumer is forced to buy new equipment, because the repair of the existing one is either impossible, because, for example, there are no spare parts, or completely unprofitable, because the cost of buying a new device is comparable to the price for its repair. Often, only small elements break down, such as motor brushes in vacuum cleaners, which, however, are not worth replacing.

Toothbrushes break down the fastest

EU consumer organizations say electric toothbrushes are the most likely to break down, and more specifically, their built-in batteries run out. Smartphones start to fail on average after two or three years of use. Anyway, back in 2017, Apple admitted to lowering the performance of older phone models; after updating the software, they started to freeze and work slower.

Nintendo has also admitted to intentionally aging its game console. The problem is that although the head of the Japanese concern officially apologized to customers for thisThe company did nothing to correct this error.

Now she will have no choice. Apple was fined for unfair practices by the Italian and French consumer affairs office, the latter in 2020 imposed a fine of EUR 25 million on the American company. Nintendo, on the other hand, took over the whole Union. According to the agreement concluded between the company and the European Commission, the company undertook to repair video game consoles free of charge, also after the warranty period and regardless of whether the failure was caused by a factory defect of the equipment or its natural wear and tear.

Consumers complain, Nintendo will fix it

It’s about the popular Nintendo Switch gaming console, specifically the Joy-Con controllers included in the set. As users complained, on average two years after purchasing the equipment, they refused to obey and started to control the game themselves, making the characters move around the screen uncontrollably. Players dubbed this bug “drifting Joy-Con”; More than 25,000 products were sent to EU consumer organizations reports on this matter.

In 2021, an official complaint against the company was filed with the European Commission by the BEUC organization, representing EU consumer groups, accusing Nintendo of intentionally aging products. The more so that experts quickly determined that the problems with the equipment are caused by factory defects of the device. It was also important that the manufacturer provided free repair of equipment, but only during the one-year warranty period, while 88 percent of consumers admitted that their console broke after two years. In this situation, the company charged customers 45 euros for the repair of one of the controllers, when the new one costs only 4 euros more.

The EU proceeding regarding Nintendo was conducted jointly by the Greek Ministry of Development and the German Environmental Authority (the same one that conducts research on the failure rate of products), and was controlled by the European Commission. Two years later, the EU managed to reach an agreement that was beneficial for users. – This is a decisive victory for consumers, many of whom had to pay for expensive repairs or replacement of a product that, as promised by the manufacturer, was supposed to work for years – says BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl in an interview with DW.

Signal for other companies

Experts see in the Nintendo case not only a win for consumers, but also a precedent that may stop manufacturers from dishonest actions in the future.

– This is a clear signal to other companies that such unfair practices are unacceptable and that consumer groups are looking at their hands. I am talking here especially about technology companies, because it is this type of products, such as the aforementioned console, that are most often specially aged – says DW Andrew Canning from BEUC.

Consumer organizations hope that the Nintendo case will lead the EU to introduce even stricter rules on defective products.

“The game isn’t over yet. The manufacturer, of course, will have to repair broken consoles at his own expense, but there are no regulations yet that would prohibit him from releasing defective products to the market. In practice, this means that he can still sell them. We hope that joint EU enforcement action and upcoming changes to EU law will change that,” adds BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl.

The European Commission actually adopted the draft of the first EU regulations on the right to repair at the end of March. They are to guarantee consumers the right to repair devices also after the warranty expires and oblige manufacturers to design devices in such a way that they are possible and easy to repair. According to EU officials, this will effectively discourage dishonest manufacturers from deliberately releasing defective equipment to the market; since they will have to repair them, intentional aging will cease to be profitable.

This, as experts note, apart from the undoubted benefits for consumers, will also make it easier for the EU to achieve climate goals. – Aging equipment and encouraging consumers to constantly buy new ones contribute to the formation of ever-larger mountains of e-waste, which is obviously inconsistent with the EU climate goals, promoting better and more durable products that will serve users for a longer time. Not to mention the fact that these mountains of garbage are created with consumers’ money – points out Andrew Canning.