Right to repair and spare-part laws

In short

• EU countries had to apply the right-to-repair directive, (EU) 2024/1799, from 31 July 2026, though only a handful met that deadline. It obliges manufacturers of listed products to offer repair at a reasonable price, and bars them from blocking independent repairers who use compatible, second-hand or 3D-printed parts that meet the law.
• Separate EU ecodesign rules already require spare parts for 7 to 10 years for fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and displays (since 1 March 2021), and for 7 years for smartphones and tablets (since 20 June 2025). Some parts go only to professional repairers.
• Great Britain is not bound by the EU directive. Its own ecodesign rules from 2021 require spare parts for fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and TVs, many of them for professional repairers only.
• In the US there is no single federal law. States including New York, Minnesota, California, Oregon and Colorado have passed repair laws with different scopes and dates.
• None of this covers every product. For the parts no law makes anyone sell, getting the part remade is often the only route.

EU: the right-to-repair directive, (EU) 2024/1799

Obligation to repair. At the consumer's request, the manufacturer must repair products for which EU law sets repairability requirements, free of charge or for a reasonable price and within a reasonable time. If the manufacturer is outside the EU, the duty passes to its authorised representative, then the importer, then the distributor. The listed products are household washing machines and washer-dryers, dishwashers, fridges and freezers, electronic displays, welding equipment, vacuum cleaners, servers and data storage products, mobile phones, cordless phones and tablets, tumble dryers, and products with batteries for light means of transport such as e-bikes. The list can be extended.

Spare-part prices. Manufacturers that supply spare parts and tools must offer them at “a reasonable price that does not deter repair”, and publish indicative prices for typical repairs on a free website.

No blocking independent repair. Manufacturers must not use contract clauses, hardware or software techniques that impede repair unless justified by legitimate and objective factors, such as protecting intellectual property. In particular they must not stop independent repairers using original or second-hand parts, or compatible parts and parts “issued from 3D-printing”, when those parts meet EU or national law. This is the clause aimed at parts pairing.

Repair information form. A repairer may give you a standard European Repair Information Form stating the defect, the repair, the price and the time it will take. Its terms bind the repairer for 30 calendar days.

Longer guarantee when you choose repair. If a product develops a fault under the legal guarantee and you choose repair over replacement, the guarantee period is extended once by 12 months. This does not apply to sales contracts concluded before 31 July 2026.

Promoting repair. Each EU country must take at least one measure to promote repair, such as repair vouchers or funds, information campaigns, repair courses or support for community repair spaces.

How it reaches you. A directive works through each country's own law. Ireland, for example, transposed it by S.I. No. 373 of 2026, with its national repair platform to be built on RepairMyStuff.ie (Law Society Gazette, August 2026). Only a handful of member states met the 31 July 2026 deadline, according to Euronews (September 2026), and where a country has not transposed the directive, consumers cannot invoke it directly against manufacturers. Check your own country's consumer authority.

EU: how long spare parts must be available

Product-specific ecodesign regulations set minimum periods during which manufacturers and importers must supply spare parts. The appliance rules have applied since 1 March 2021; the smartphone and tablet rules since 20 June 2025.

For products without such rules, and for parts outside the lists, nothing obliges a manufacturer to keep selling the part. Check the regulation for your product, then the manufacturer, then dealers and used parts, before asking a maker.

EU: what is coming next

• Replaceable batteries. Under the Batteries Regulation, (EU) 2023/1542, portable batteries built into products must be readily removable and replaceable by the end user from 18 February 2027, with commercially available tools and without heat or solvents. Some products, such as devices regularly exposed to splashing water and certain medical devices, may instead have the battery replaced by an independent professional.
• Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. The ESPR, (EU) 2024/1781, entered into force on 18 July 2024. It lets the EU set durability, repairability and recycled-content rules for nearly all physical products, product group by product group, and introduces a Digital Product Passport. Its first working plan (April 2025) lists furniture for about 2028 and horizontal repairability requirements, including scoring, for about 2027. These are plans, not rules in force.
• Unsold clothing. Large companies may no longer destroy unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear from 19 July 2026 (medium-sized companies from 19 July 2030).

Repair bonuses in Europe

Several countries and cities pay part of a repair carried out by a registered repair business. Schemes change and run out of money, so each line below carries the date of its source.

United Kingdom

The EU directive does not apply in Great Britain, although UK businesses selling into the EU must comply with it there (Lewis Silkin, March 2026). Northern Ireland's position was not checked for this page.

Great Britain's own “right to repair” rules came in 2021 through the Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/745). They require spare parts for fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and TVs and other displays; for displays, parts must be available for 7 years and delivered within 15 working days. Many parts are available only to professional repairers, and smartphones and laptops were not covered (UK Government, March 2021).

The same announcement put UK electrical waste at around 1.5 million tonnes a year. No UK equivalent of the EU smartphone rules or of the EU repair obligation was found for this page.

United States

There is no federal right-to-repair law for consumer products. In May 2021 the Federal Trade Commission sent Congress its “Nixing the Fix” report on repair restrictions and in July 2021 unanimously adopted a policy statement pledging to act against unlawful repair restrictions. States have passed their own laws:

U.S. PIRG, an advocacy group, estimated that 25.75% of Americans were covered by right-to-repair laws on 1 January 2026, rising to at least 35.5% by autumn 2026 once laws in Connecticut and Texas take effect (December 2025).

For cars, Massachusetts voters approved a motor-vehicle right-to-repair law in 2012, which led to a 2014 national agreement giving independent shops access to dealer tools and repair information. A 2020 ballot question extending access to telematics data from model year 2022 passed with about 75% of the vote; automakers challenged it in court, so check its current status before relying on it.

What this means for a remade part

• Repairing your own things is legal. What can be restricted is copying protected designs, logos and trade marks, which differ by country. Generic functional parts, your own designs and official repair files published by manufacturers are usually straightforward.
• If you use a shared file, check its licence. Under a Creative Commons NonCommercial licence the material may not be used primarily for commercial advantage or money, which can rule out a paid maker printing it for you.
• The EU directive protects the use of compatible and 3D-printed parts that meet EU or national law. It does not make a part safe or legal by itself: safety-critical parts still need certified originals. See the safety page.
• Manufacturer obligations cover listed products and periods. Once those run out, or for products no law covers, a maker may be the only source of a part.