Europeans get 'right to repair' for some electrical goods
techxplore.com
techxplore.com
It'd be interesting to see actual stats rather than an anecdote. I think the devices listed in this article already last 10 years unless you're unlucky.
There may be a bias in their impression: If a device is under guarantee obviously people won't visit a 'repair cafe'. But I'm thinking that if the device is old they may not bother either, so I'm suspecting that a fault in the year or two after the guarantee expires is the period people will try to have the device repaired (they are gutted that it's just out of guarantee and it's still new enough that they don't want to throw it away) even if that event is rare overall.
In general, if a repair is needed a big issue is the cost. Sure it is easier (or simply indeed just doable) to repair if the device can be taken apart and spare parts are available, but the cost of labour (callout, plus investigation, plus sourcing part, plus actual repair) quickly adds up to a point where people may simply choose not to bother and buy a new device.
I'm willing to spend £500 to repair a boiler that would cost me £1500+ to replace, but a £30 hairdryer stops working and I'll just get another one off Amazon without even considering to have it repaired. Appliances like fridges and washers fall in between.
So I think we need to wait and see if this 'right to repair' makes much difference in practice. It may also push prices up.
It doesn't look like the EU care if prices go up. They are more concerned with waste then consumer rights. Also, let's say a microwave now cost £50 and lasts 5 years. let's say the price under the new laws goes up to £70, 2 things will happen; a) the consumer will be more motivated to get his machine fixed and b)the microwave will last 10 years, ultimately saving £30. My math may be badly wrong, feel free to correct me. I just plucked all those figures out of thin air.
My guess is that they will last exactly as long but they may be simpler to repair and/or parts will be available for slightly longer (the new regulation only states that they should be repairable for up to 10 years), which may have a cost for the consumer and in terms of resources needed to build the appliance. And again the actual cost of repairs is key: If we take the numbers of your example, I am pretty sure that it is always never worthwhile to pay someone to repair a £70 device if you consider all costs (time, plus labour, plus parts).
In my view, for anything that costs less than £300 it very quickly becomes uneconomical to repair, even it is repairable. And appliances are already repairable so we need to see an incremental benefit with this policy.
Let's also be realistic, a TV these days is one screen connected to one PCB with one or two SoCs. Not sure exactly what the expectation of 'repair' is and replacing either of these components will likely cost almost as much as buying a new TV however you look at it.
IMHO there should be an analysis of the net benefits they expect. Policy should be data-driven but sometimes I feel it is based on untested assumptions.