Right to Repair Europe has called for urgent action against software-driven obsolescence, which it claims is generating ‘mountains of unnecessary e-waste’.
In an open letter to the European Commission, Right to Repair Europe said current EU legislative measures are ‘insufficient and difficult to enforce’, which leaves consumers unprotected and devices prematurely obsolete.
The Right to Repair Europe coalition calls on the European Commission to introduce EU Ecodesign requirements for laptops, guaranteeing at least 15 years of software updates.
The open letter also urges the Commission to set strong horizontal requirements on minimum durability and repairability, with software and security support to match the potential lifespan of all products with a plug or battery.
Today (14 October), Microsoft has planned to end automatic free support for Windows 10, which runs on nearly half of all Windows computers. Right to Repair Europe estimates this could generate ‘over 700 million kilograms of e-waste’. 14 October is International E-Waste Day.
Research from BusinessWaste.co.uk estimates that the materials from devices rendered obsolete by the Windows 10 EOS could be worth up to £1.809 billion.
The open letter reads: “Ending software obsolescence is essential to building a sovereign, competitive, and circular EU tech economy.”
“An international coalition of circular economy and digital rights experts is already pressuring Microsoft to extend free, automatic support for Windows 10.”
U.S. PIRG has previously delivered a letter signed by 590 businesses, elected officials and organisations, including 382 repair businesses and non-profits from around the world and 49 environmental and consumer advocacy organisations.