Repair rather than replace

Something that breaks is increasingly repaired in Europe rather than replaced, and that is not a trend but a law. Directive 2024/1799 of 13 June 2024, the "right to repair", had to be written into national law by 31 July 2026. What it settles is concrete enough to remember, and it starts with the legal guarantee you already had.

Within that guarantee, at least two years from delivery across the EU, you choose between repair and replacement, and the seller may insist on repair when it costs the same or less. New is the reward for choosing repair: the guarantee is extended by twelve months after it. A washing machine repaired in month twenty is therefore not "out of guarantee" four months later, but only a year after the repair. That changes the sum for anyone wondering whether a repair is still worth it.

Outside the guarantee it is about the manufacturer. For product groups with EU repairability rules, washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, vacuum cleaners, phones, tablets and screens, the manufacturer must offer a repair, even years after purchase, at a reasonable price and within a reasonable time. You may ask for a European repair information form: one sheet stating what it will cost, how long it will take and what exactly will be done, so you can compare two repairers before handing anything over. And a manufacturer may not obstruct an independent repairer with parts only it can fit.

For phones and tablets it is already visible. Since 20 June 2025 they carry an EU energy label with, beside battery endurance and drop resistance, a repairability class from A to E. With it comes the requirement that spare parts stay available for years after the sale and that the device receives at least five years of security updates. Anyone choosing between two devices and hoping to keep one for a decade now has a number that did not exist before.

What the law does not do is decide whether a repair is worth it. Repairing a cheap appliance sometimes costs more than it is worth, and you are allowed to say so. But asking the question has been a right since 2026, and the form is how you ask it. Until then the seller is your first address within the guarantee, and the rules for that are in Your rights when you buy online. On Amazon and other marketplaces that is the seller of the product, not the platform; who that is, you read in Who actually sells this?.