Data on products evaluated against the French repairability Index

The chart shows the number of products that have been scored according to the French repairability Index — as shown by Spareka, a French company helping consumers repair their appliances by offering video tutorials, diagnostic tools and the sale of spare parts on their platform called “l’indice de reparabilité”. Besides Spareka, “Agora” and “Les Numériques” are similar online platforms providing an overview of products available in the French market and their repair scores.

The initial coverage of categories of electrical and electronic products, ordered by the number of scored products within each product category, were smartphones, front-loading washing machines, electric lawn mowers, televisions, and laptops. The number of products assessed and scored has increased from 1,201 in 2022 to 1,434 in 2023.

Since November 2022, other product categories are also affected by relevant regulation, being vacuum cleaners (wired, batteries), front-loading washing machines, dishwashers, and high-pressure washers.

The data also shows repairability scoring by product. The highest and lowest scorings by product category were (as of November 2023): Vacuum cleaners (5.3 to 9.8); laptops (3.5 to 9.8); smartphones (1 to 9.6); electric lawn mowers (4.9 to 9.7); high pressures washers (7.6 to 9.3); front-loading washing machines (5.6 to 8.7); and televisions (3.2 to 8.5).

Monitoring of repair activity will benefit from official data series on both the number and the scoring of products, as well as expanding labelling obligations to other product categories.

France has announced plans to replace the repairability index with a “Durability Index” which will reflect not only how repairable products are but will also address lifecycle aspects of the products  such as reliability and upgrading possibilities. France plans to implement this January 1^st, 2024 for smartphones, washing machines and televisions.