Making the Right to Repair a reality

Illustration event with toolbox and mug with repair, mend and upcycle mentions.
Start/End date
Event type
Country
Belgium
City
Brussels

The Right to Repair movement has been gathering steam across Europe and beyond. This is reflected in the EU agenda, with the need to promote repairability and long-lasting products stipulated in the European Green Deal and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. In light of this, repair has been integrated into various EU policy files, including product policy and consumer legislation, with the most recent development being the ‘Sustainable Consumption of Goods – promoting reuse and repair’ initiative.

The ECESP Leadership Group on Sustainable products and design held this #EUCircularTalks on 27 April at 10:00 – 11:30 CEST. The event was a timely opportunity to discuss the EU’s policy landscape on repair and consider what else is needed to make the right to repair a reality. Our speakers, active in repair and refurbishment, told us more about the sector, as well as about the challenges and opportunities they see on the path to making the right to repair a reality.

Draft programme

  • Welcome and introduction
  • Presentations by key stakeholders
    • Ada Preziosi, Legal Officer, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, European Commission, with an overview of the current and forthcoming policy framework for repair
    • Cristina Ganapini, Coordinator of Right to Repair Europe, on the overall importance of repair (for climate and resource savings, job creation and the resilience of the EU economy
    • Schima Labitsch, Chief Strategy Officer, refurbed, on the industry stakeholder take on repair: risks and opportunities
  • Reactions from panelists
  • Discussion + Q&A
  • Conclusions + wrap-up