News

Why don’t we fix products when they break down? Users believe that the useful life of everyday appliances is not very long and when they break down they are often replaced by new ones. Why don’t we repair them? What could be done to extend their useful life? What are the main drivers – repair services, […]

In January 2021, France introduced a repairability index for five product groups (Law n° 2020-105). The same Law also foresees that by 2024 the index is replaced by – or becomes – a durability index including additional criteria, such as product reliability. Recently, the French Environmental Agency (ADEME) published a preparatory study for the introduction of […]

Between December 2020 and March 2021, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) launched a second Open call for submissions of good practices, success stories and lessons learned by all stakeholders in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than 700 completed submissions were reviewed by […]

As the European Green Deal turned one just a few days ago, the EU Parliament steps forwards towards tackling premature obsolescence, one of the Green Deal’s priorities. On 25 November 2020, members of the EU Parliament voted for more durable and repairable products. In practice, MEPs adopted a report highlighting the need to encourage more sustainable […]

Today, more and more products are powered by rechargeable batteries. On the one hand, this development enables us to use our products wherever we are. On the other hand, rechargeable batteries have a limited lifetime due to ageing, whether they are used or not. Within the scope of the PROMPT project, Stiftung Warentest developed a new […]

Two members of the PROMPT consortium, UFC-Que Choisir and Test-Achats, are up in arms against Nintendo after the “Joy-Con” of the Switch player became unusable for thousands of gamers. The faulty part is the joystick, a tiny but central part of the device, which makes the characters move without any actions for the player. But don’t […]

An ambitious piece of legislation aiming to boost reparability of products was voted in France on 30th January 2020. There will be several benefits for both consumers’ pockets and the environment. Let’s have a quick overview. As of 1 January 2021, a repair score will appear on smart phones, washing machines, TVs, computers and lawn mowers. […]

On January 23rd 2020, PROMPT partner R.U.S.Z. received the Austrian 2020 Living Standards Award in the category “Reaching international markets”. Repair and service centre R.U.S.Z in Vienna is the largest independent repair workshop for electrical and electronic equipment in Austria. R.U.S.Z. technicians have contributed their decades of experience and technical know-how to the development of a […]

Since 2016, Test Achats has been tackling the issue of premature obsolescence thanks to its “Trop vite usé” online contact point, which makes it possible to report devices that have become too quickly unusable. With the support of the PROMPT project, consumer organisations in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain joined forces to […]