Right to repair portal

Subject : Polity

Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal unveiled the ‘right to repair’ portal on National Consumer Day.
The theme of National Consumer Day 2022 was “Effective disposal of cases in consumer commission”.

About the news

The Right to Repair refers to government legislation that is intended to allow consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer electronic devices, where otherwise the manufacturer of such devices requires the consumer to use only their offered services.
The right to repair has been recognised in many countries across the globe, including the US, UK and European Union.

Background

The Union government had set up a committee in July 2022 headed by Nidhi Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs to develop a comprehensive framework for the right to repair.
The sectors identified include Farming Equipment, Mobile Phones/ Tablets, Consumer Durables and Automobiles/Automobile Equipment.
The framework is an attempt to reduce restrictive practices implemented by some manufacturers in order for consumers to repair goods such as consumer durables, phones, and automobiles on their own.
The framework will become a “game-changer” for the sustainability of the products and serve as a catalyst for employment generation.

About Right to Repair Portal:

On this portal manufacturer will share the manual of product details with customers so that they can either repair it by themselves, or by third parties, rather than depend on the original manufacturers.
Initially, mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, automobiles and farming equipment will be covered.
It allows consumers to repair and modify their consumer products against the manufacturer requiring them to use their services either by restricting access to tools and components or putting in place software barriers.
From now on India will be joining a clutch of countries like the US and the UK that offer this facility.
It will save consumers money and contribute to circular economy objectives by improving the life span, maintenance, re-use, upgrade, recyclability, and waste handling of appliances.