Right to Repair Portal

News Excerpt:

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) held a meeting with automobile associations and companies to encourage their participation in the newly launched Right to Repair Portal.

About the Right to Repair Portal: 

  • On National Consumer Rights Day 2022, the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) of India launched the Right to Repair Portal India. 
  • The Portal aims to empower consumers with easier access to product repair information and contribute to the Circular Economy and reducing electronic waste.
  • This portal serves as a single platform to provide easy access to necessary information on the repair and maintenance of products to consumers.
  • It provides consumers with access to product manuals and repair videos, as well as information on the price and warranty of spare parts. The portal also allows consumers to submit feedback and suggestions on products and services.

The Right to Repair Portal covers 4 sectors:

  • Farming Equipments
  • Mobile and Electronics
  • Consumer Durables
  • Automobile Equipments

Significance of the new Portal:

  1. The Portal is expected to play a key role in enabling consumers to make informed decisions about the purchase and maintenance of their products, and to promote a circular economy model.
  2. The initiative is part of the government's efforts to uphold consumer rights and address evolving concerns about hassle-free product repairs.

Right to Repair:

  • The “Right to Repair” is a non - traditional legal concept that advocates for allowing consumers and independent repair shops to fix devices, rather than being limited to manufacturer-authorized repairs.
  • It seeks to give consumers more control over their devices, reduce environmental impact, and support local repair businesses. 
  • India has not yet codified the “right to repair” into law.

Global Practices:

  • In the US, the Federal Trade Commission has directed manufacturers to remedy unfair anti-competitive practices and asked them to ensure that consumers can make repairs, either themselves or by a third-party agency.
  • Recently, the U.K. has also passed a law that includes all electronic appliance manufacturers to provide consumers with spare parts for getting the repair done either by themselves or by the local repair shops.
  • The European Union passed legislation that required manufacturers to supply parts of products to professional repairmen for a time of 10 years.

 

Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA):

  • Department of Consumer Affairs is one of the two Departments under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. 
  • It was constituted as a separate Department in June 1997 as it was considered necessary to have a separate Department to give a fillip to the nascent consumer movement in the country.

The Department has been entrusted with the following work:

  • Implementation of Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
  • Implementation of Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016
  • Implementation of Standards of Weights and Measures - The Legal Metrology Act, 2009.

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