Guaranteed updates and repairability for smartphones in the EU from June 20

A good two years after the EU Commission's proposal, the ecodesign requirements will come into force in the EU on June 20, 2025. With this regulation, binding requirements regarding sustainability and reparability will apply to smartphones, feature phones, cordless phones and tablets. At the same time, smartphones and tablets must have a standardized EU-wide energy label that offers more transparency regarding durability and reparability.

5 years of software updates from the end of sale

To enable smartphones and tablets to have a longer and safer service life, the new Ecodesign Regulation stipulates a binding update guarantee: Manufacturers must provide operating system and security updates free of charge for at least five years for said devices that are newly launched on the European market from the cut-off date. But not from the market launch, but from the day the product is withdrawn from the market.

According to the regulation, spare parts such as batteries, cameras, or displays must also be available for at least seven years – also calculated from the end of sales. Important spare parts must also be available within 5 to 10 working days.

Furthermore, some components such as batteries, screens or the rear panel must be made available not only to “technically competent repairers” but also to end users. However, the EU still wants to adapt this regulation, as can be seen from a document published at the beginning of May but not yet legally binding: This  “Corrective Act” stipulates that replacement displays may still be sold to end users, but may not be exchanged by them.

The Commission wants to remove the requirement on how easy it must be to replace a screen from the legal text. Right-to-Repair-Activists want to prevent this, as the screen is the component that is replaced most frequently alongside the battery. If the correction is waved through, the EU will replace the affected paragraphs with a clarification.

“Package insert” provides transparency for consumers

In addition to updates and the provision of spare parts, resistance to accidental drops or scratches and protection against dust and water are also part of the Ecodesign Regulation. The EU Commission stipulates durability for batteries: They must survive at least 800 charging and discharging cycles and retain at least 80 percent of their original capacity.

To ensure that consumers are also informed about the reparability and other factors of the ecodesign requirements, manufacturers must include an EU energy label with the device. This can already be found on many other devices such as televisions or washing machines, but it is being expanded to include additional categories for the new devices.

In addition to energy efficiency, the EU label for smartphones and tablets also provides information on repairability, robustness, and battery life.

A QR code is also printed on the“instruction leaflet”, which leads to the EU Commission's EPREL database. Manufacturers must register their devices in this database and store general information, the data sheet, availability, and the supplier contact for the product.

It remains to be seen how manufacturers will deal with the new requirements. It is true that longer update times are almost the rule for expensive smartphones with more computing power. The situation is different for cheaper models under 300 euros. Some manufacturers occasionally only offer a new operating system version and three years of security updates for such models.

(afl)