EU Right to Repair Directive Explained (2026): Your New Right to Fix Phones, Appliances & Electronics

The law works in two layers:

Layer 1: During your warranty.

The directive changes what happens when something breaks within the first two years. If your washing machine dies in month 18 and the seller offers you a brand-new replacement, you can now say that you want it fixed. If you choose repair, your warranty gets extended by 12 months from the day the repair is finished. So instead of your warranty expiring at month 24, it now runs until month 30 (or longer, depending on when the repair happened). The seller must tell you about this right before they offer you a swap.

Layer 2: After your warranty expires.

Even after those two years are up, manufacturers of certain products are legally required to repair your item if it breaks, at a fair price and within a reasonable time. This applies to the products listed in the directive's Annex II (see the full list below).

Important nuance: The 12-month warranty extension applies to products you buy on or after 31 July 2026 (though your country can choose to apply it earlier). The post-warranty repair obligation, however, applies to the listed products regardless of when you bought them,  so if you bought a fridge in 2024, the manufacturer must still honor repair requests from 31 July 2026 onwards, as long as spare parts are still required to be available.

Why It Was Passed: What Problem Is This Solving?

The Directive was conceived to reverse a throwaway culture with staggering environmental and economic costs. The European Commission identified that 35 million tonnes of waste and 261 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions are generated annually in the EU from the premature disposal of repairable goods . This costs consumers nearly €12 billion because they are forced to buy new instead of fixing what they already own.

Three Specific Issues Drove This Law:

1. Products are designed to be unfixable

Manufacturers use glued-in batteries, special screws that standard screwdrivers cannot open, and software that bricks your phone if an independent shop touches it. Spare parts are either unavailable or priced so high that buying new seems cheaper. For example, if your vacuum cleaner's motor fails, but the manufacturer stopped making the replacement part three years ago, you have no choice but to bin a machine that is otherwise fine.

2. Consumers lack information

At the store or on Amazon, you see a new smartphone, but you have no clue whether the battery can be replaced, how long spare parts will be available, or what a screen repair typically costs. The law fixes this by requiring repairability labels and upfront information.

3. Independent repairers are locked out

Even if you wanted to support your local repair café, manufacturers often blocked them with contractual restrictions, refused to sell them spare parts, or denied them the diagnostic software needed to identify the fault. The directive tears down these walls.

A Eurobarometer survey found that 77% of EU citizens would rather repair their electrical appliances than throw them away. This law makes that possible.