In an effort to address challenges in the repair and reuse of devices, the Centre on Tuesday constituted a committee to formulate framework on ‘Repairability Index’ in the mobile and electronics sector.
The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA), constituted a panel of experts under the chairmanship of additional secretary Bharat Khera to recommend a robust framework for Repairability Index and to empower consumers and promote sustainable practices within the tech industry.
According to the government, the Repairability Index will be a consumer-focused indexing that enables consumers to take a product-related decision, based on its repairability.
It can also standardise how repairability is assessed, making it easier for consumers to compare products based on repairability indexing, thereby creating an ecosystem of informed choices across mobile and electronics products.
By developing Repairability Index, the government seeks to provide consumers with greater transparency of repair information for their products and foster a more sustainable technology industry.
The objective is to ensure that the product is not designed to fail but designed to last long so that consumers are not compelled to purchase new products due to a lack of repair options or exorbitant repair costs.
Key components of the Repair Ecosystem include access to repair manuals/DIYs, diagnostics, and a list of necessary tools and parts; easily identifiable and timely delivery of spare parts; inexpensive, widely available, and safe tools for consumers.
The panel will recommend enabling framework for formulating policies which support repairability and integration of repairability index with the extant regulatory provisions in mobile and electronics sector to enhance consumer experiences in reusing the mobile and electronics products they own.
Last month, the government said India should become the ‘Repair Factory of the World’. Nidhi Khare, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, had raised issues like excessively high costs of repairs which often lead to consumer dissatisfaction and delay repair.