EU rules move Denmark closer to easier product repairs

A bill aimed at making it easier for consumers to repair products instead of buying new ones was given its first reading in Denmark’s parliament on Wednesday, DR reports.

The bill was introduced by Justice Minister Nicolai Wammen of the Social Democrats, based on an EU directive adopted in 2024 to encourage the repair of goods.

“We need to make it easier to extend the life of the products we already have. That is good for consumers and for the green transition,” Malte Larsen of the Social Democrats said while presenting the proposal in parliament.

The rules would apply to household appliances including dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers, refrigerators and freezers. They would also cover mobile phones, tablets and data storage products such as hard drives.

Under the directive, manufacturers must repair products either free of charge or at a reasonable price for consumers. Repairs must also be completed within a reasonable period after the manufacturer receives the product.

The directive does not specify what constitutes a reasonable period. Manufacturers may not make repairs unnecessarily difficult by imposing contract terms or other requirements that make the process harder in practice.

The directive is a full harmonisation directive, meaning it must be implemented in all EU member states, including Denmark. Member states cannot introduce national rules unless the directive specifically allows them to do so.

Countries do have some discretion in certain areas, including whether to extend the legal complaints period when a consumer has a product repaired and whether to allow national repairers to register on a shared European online repair platform.

The Danish government proposes not to use these options. Denmark would therefore not extend the complaints period by 12 months when a consumer has a product repaired.

Denmark missed the original 31 July deadline for implementing the EU’s new repair directive. A bill was introduced in June but was not completed before the deadline, while the process also followed the parliamentary election in March.

The justice minister has therefore proposed that the law enter into force as soon as it has been adopted and published.