Regulating Planned Obsolescence: A Review of Legal Approaches to Increase Product Durability and Reparability in Europe
Open accessAbstract
Improving product durability and reparability can save natural resources and money for consumers but may not always be in the best interest of all manufacturers. With the emergence of the circular economy as an important policy objective in the European Union ( EU ), there is renewed interest in policies to promote durability and address planned obsolescence. Different legislative approaches are currently used to provide incentives for design for durability and reparability at the EU and Member State levels. The EU has started to regulate durability through the Ecodesign Directive, whereas Member States have made use of other legal approaches such as longer consumer warranties, the criminalization of planned obsolescence and measures to incentivize the availability of spare parts. In this contribution, we review some of the legislation in place and discuss benefits and disadvantages of different legal approaches.
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Bocken, N. M. P., & Short, S. W. (2021) · Journal of Cleaner Production · doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127828 · Cited by 299 · see citing works
Hofstetter, J. S., De Marchi, V., Sarkis, J., Govindan, K., Klassen, R., Ometto, A. R., Spraul, K. S., Bocken, N., Ashton, W. S., Sharma, S., et al. (2021) · Circular Economy and Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s43615-021-00015-2 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Designed to break: planned obsolescence as corporate environmental crime
Bisschop, L., Hendlin, Y., & Jaspers, J. (2022) · Crime Law and Social Change · doi:10.1007/s10611-022-10023-4 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
“…law, consumer protection law, environmental law or criminal law—are the most adequate to regulate planned obsolescence (La Rosa, 2020; Maitre-Ekern & Dalhammar, 2016; Malinauskaite & Erdem, 2021), or place planned obsolescence within the political and economic historical climate in…”
BackgroundWasserbaur, R., Sakao, T., Ljunggren Söderman, M., Plepys, A., & Dalhammar, C. (2020) · Resources, Conservation and Recycling · doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104780 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Self-citationMilios, L., & Dalhammar, C. (2023) · Journal of Circular Economy · doi:10.55845/ahfr5526 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Self-citationPlanned Obsolescence and Criminal Law: A Problematic Relationship?
La Rosa, E. (2020) · Sustainability and Law · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-42630-9_12 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Maitre‐Ekern, E., & Dalhammar, C.
- Corresponding author
- Maitre‐Ekern, Eléonore
- Venue
- Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-11
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 378-394
- ISSN
- 2050-0386 (ISSN-L)
- 2050-0394
- OpenAlex
- W2554905173
- Cited by
- 129
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 25.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- papers.ssrn.com
- Locations
- Review of European Comparative & International Environmental Law (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Sustainable Supply Chain Management
- Social Sciences › Law › European and International Contract Law
- Social Sciences › Law › EU Law and Policy Analysis
- Keywords
- planned obsolescence, product durability, circular economy, Ecodesign Directive, spare parts availability, durability design, EU environmental law, member state legislation
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