How India moved a step closer to developing comprehensive framework on the right to repair

The Indian Department of Consumer Affairs has set up a committee with the aim of developing an overall right-to-repair framework. The committee identified mobile phones and tablets as one of the most critical sectors for the right to repair, along with automobiles/automobile equipment, farming equipment, and consumer durables.

During its first meeting, the committee highlighted the issues that impede the right to repair, such as companies avoiding the publication of manuals that can help users make repairs, manufacturers’ proprietary control over spare parts and monopoly on repair processes, to name but a few. Manufacturers are therefore encouraging a culture of ‘planned obsolescence, i.e. a product is designed to last a particular time after which it is replaced.

The committee members, therefore, discussed the need for the tech companies to provide knowledge, schematics and software updates, making available diagnostic tools to third parties, and international best practices that can be implemented in India.