Having become mandatory for televisions, this index helps guide buyers and fight against planned obsolescence.
Buy a television that lasts? It's now easier. In fact, the sustainability index, which informs consumers about the possibility of extending the lifespan and use of certain devices, comes into force this Wednesday for televisions. This durability index will replace the repairability index for several categories – a tool provided as part of the 2020 anti-waste law offering a score ranging from 1 to 10, with the aim of specifying whether a product is easy to repair and to facilitate access to spare parts. The repairability index has been deployed since January 2021 across five product categories – smartphones, laptops, televisions, lawn mowers, porthole washing machines. It was extended at the end of 2022 to four other categories: top-opening washing machines, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, high-pressure cleaners. But a decree published in April 2024 announced that from 2025, this index would be replaced by an index of “sustainability” for certain product categories, starting with televisions (January 8) and washing machines (all types of opening, April 8).
“It includes new criteria, particularly relating to product reliability”or concerning resistance to stress and wear, or even the existence of a commercial guarantee, the Ministry of Ecological Transition indicated on its site at the end of December. Tuesday, in a press release, the association “Stop planned obsolescence” (HOP) greeted “good news” with the entry into force of this new device on the label of televisions, which he describes as “more complete” et “essential to inform consumers about the reliability of goods and encourage manufacturers to produce eco-designed goods”. HOP regrets, however, that this ecological poster “still concerns too few products”. The association also specifies that the ministry and the stakeholders concerned “worked together initially on three product categories: televisions, washing machines and smartphones” and deplores “the exclusion of smartphones from this system following a decision by the European Commission” which had given an unfavorable opinion concerning the inclusion of these products in the system, specifies HOP on its site.
