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The EU Right to Repair Directive: What It Means for Influencer Marketing of Electronics and Appliances
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Influencer Marketing Basics
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Yes — the EU's Right to Repair Directive (2024/1799) is now in force, applying across the EU from 31 July 2026. For a defined list of electronics and appliances, manufacturers must repair at a disclosed, reasonable price, publish that price publicly, and add 12 months to the legal guarantee when a consumer chooses repair over replacement. That means a creator's on-camera claim that a covered product "isn't worth fixing" is now checkable against the brand's own published numbers.
The EU's Right to Repair Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/1799) is no longer a forthcoming rule — it applies across the EU from 31 July 2026, per the European Commission's own page on the directive. For a defined list of electronics and appliances (Annex II), manufacturers must now offer repair at a disclosed, reasonable price, publish that price on a freely accessible website, and add at least 12 months to the legal guarantee when a consumer chooses repair over replacement. That means a creator's on-camera claim that a covered product "isn't worth fixing" is now checkable against the manufacturer's own published numbers.
This is practical guidance from Make Influence, not legal advice. Check the European Commission's own page on the directive and the status of Denmark's own implementing bill before relying on anything here for a decision.
Directive (EU) 2024/1799 on common rules promoting the repair of goods was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 13 June 2024. Its purpose, in the European Commission's own words, is to make it easier and more affordable for consumers to have products repaired instead of replacing them — contributing to a well-functioning internal market for repair services, a high level of consumer and environmental protection, and a more circular economy. Member States had to transpose the directive into national law and apply it from 31 July 2026 — the date it actually became enforceable law in each Member State, Denmark included.
The stronger obligations apply to manufacturers (or their authorised representative, importer or distributor) of goods covered by Annex II — see the list below. The directive introduces four core requirements:
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Repair obligation | The manufacturer must repair a covered product within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price, where technically possible — including after the statutory legal guarantee has expired |
| Ban on repair-blocking practices | Contractual or technical barriers that prevent an independent repairer or the consumer from repairing the product are generally prohibited, with limited exceptions |
| Spare parts and tools at a reasonable price | The manufacturer must make spare parts and specialised tools available at a price that doesn't, in practice, deter repair — the directive sets no fixed price ceiling or formula for what "reasonable" means |
| Public price disclosure | The manufacturer must publish indicative prices for typical repairs of covered products on a freely accessible website |
On top of this, per Denmark's own implementing bill, there's a common European Repair Information Form a consumer can request — with a concrete cost estimate and a repair timeframe — plus regulatory oversight of compliance.
Annex II of the directive defines which goods the stronger repair obligations apply to — it isn't every consumer product. Per several independent legal analyses (including Lewis Silkin and Fieldfisher) that have reviewed the directive's text, the list currently covers:
Right to Repair Europe, a civil-society coalition that tracks the directive's implementation, reports that the obligations for the last category — light-electric-transport batteries — only take effect from February 2027, while the rest of the list is covered from the general 31 July 2026 date. The list is expected to grow over time, as more product categories get their own EU repairability requirements under the Ecodesign rules — the same regulatory family as the Digital Product Passport, though a different specific regulation.
If a product is not on Annex II — furniture, clothing or toys, for example — the stronger repair obligation doesn't apply. The general legal-guarantee rules for defects still apply, independent of this directive.
Part of the directive amends the Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive more broadly: when a consumer chooses to have a product repaired, rather than replaced or refunded, under the statutory legal guarantee, the guarantee period is extended by at least 12 months from the date of repair. This part applies to consumer purchases generally, not just Annex II products — it's only the stronger repair obligation itself (the duty to repair, price disclosure and spare parts) that's limited to Annex II goods.
Denmark is transposing the directive through "Forslag til lov om reparation af varer" (bill L 6), introduced in the Folketing on 25 June 2026. Per DAKOFA's own review of the bill, the Danish law covers 11 named product categories — beyond Annex II's core list, the Danish description also names items such as space heaters as a separate category — and introduces a repair obligation for manufacturers, a common European Repair Information Form, regulatory oversight, connection to the shared European online repair platform, and provisions extending the complaint period.
At the time of this article's research (26 August 2026), the bill had received its first reading and was expected to be processed and passed by the Folketing during August 2026 — but this research found no confirmed date for a third reading or final passage. Check the Folketing's own case page for L 6 for the current status before setting your own compliance timeline against a specific date.
The directive isn't itself a marketing-law rule — it regulates what a manufacturer is obliged to do for the consumer, not what an influencer or a brand is allowed to say. But it creates a new, concrete, publicly available reference point for a type of claim that's common in product reviews and unboxing content: how worthwhile it is to repair a product instead of buying new.
Because manufacturers of Annex II products must now publish indicative repair prices on a freely accessible website, any viewer can, in practice, check whether an influencer's statement — "it's not worth fixing," "you might as well just buy a new one" — holds up against the manufacturer's own numbers. That's a different mechanism from the Digital Product Passport's QR-scan on the product itself (which, incidentally, isn't law yet) — here, the reference point is a webpage the manufacturer is already legally required to maintain today.
Also be aware of the overlap with the ECGT rules on environmental and sustainability claims: the EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive, as part of the broader UCPD framework, contains separate provisions on misleading durability and repairability claims — a different, complaint-side rule from the actual repair obligation covered in this article. This article doesn't cover Denmark's specific implementation of those repairability-claim provisions in detail — see our ECGT article for what's currently confirmed on the Danish rulebook, and be cautious with wording that actively encourages a consumer to replace a product that can genuinely be repaired.
| Right to Repair Directive | Digital Product Passport | ECGT | Green Claims Directive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Law, applies from 31 July 2026 | Not yet law (textiles planned Q4 2027) | Law, applies from 27 September 2026 | On hold, not adopted |
| Regulates | The manufacturer's repair obligation to the consumer | Publishing product data via a scannable data carrier | Misleading marketing claims | Would have required prior verification of environmental claims |
| Covers influencer content directly? | No — regulates the manufacturer, not the marketing | No — a product requirement | Yes — a direct marketing-law rule | Would have been a marketing-law rule |
| Relevance to influencer marketing | Creates a public reference point a repair claim can be checked against | Would create a scannable reference point for material claims | Sets the actual boundary on which claims may be used | Would have tightened the documentation requirement further |
IF the campaign involves an Annex II product (a washing machine, a mobile phone, a laptop with a screen) and a creator is going to say something about how easy or cheap it is to repair → check the manufacturer's own, legally required price-disclosure page before the claim goes into the brief, and write that check into the contract as a documentation requirement, the same way you would for any other factual claim.
IF the brief includes wording that actively encourages replacing rather than repairing a product that can genuinely be fixed → be aware of the overlap with ECGT's rules on misleading durability claims, and rephrase if you're unsure.
IF the product isn't on Annex II → the stronger repair obligation doesn't apply, but ordinary legal-guarantee rules and any environmental/durability claims under ECGT can still be relevant.
IF you're unsure whether a product category is covered → Annex II's list grows over time; check with your own legal or compliance function rather than assuming the list is static.
This is a fabricated example to illustrate the principle — not a real Make Influence customer case, and not real prices from any named manufacturer. Picture an appliance manufacturer whose legally required price-disclosure page lists an indicative repair price of DKK 850 for a common bearing fault on a specific washing-machine model — while an equivalent new model costs DKK 6,000. A creator making a video about the model says: "at that price, you might as well just buy a new one." With the manufacturer's own price disclosure publicly available, the repair here is roughly seven times cheaper than a new machine — a viewer who clicks through to the manufacturer's price page can see that immediately. A wording that holds up better: "according to the manufacturer's own price disclosure, a typical repair for this fault costs around DKK 850, while a new model costs around DKK 6,000 — repair is the obvious choice here, unless the fault turns out to be worse than usual."
In our experience, "it's just not worth repairing" is one of the most common, unchecked assumptions in product content — it sounds plausible, but is rarely tested against an actual figure. With the Right to Repair Directive's price-disclosure requirement, that figure is now publicly available for a wide range of electronics and appliance categories. Our recommendation is to treat any repairability or durability claim in a brief the same way you already treat environmental claims under ECGT: check it against a concrete, public source before it reaches the creator's script, and add it as a standing line item in your brand safety checklist — not only if someone challenges it afterwards.
Yes, from 31 July 2026 across the EU, per the European Commission's own page on the directive. Denmark's own implementing bill (L 6) was still being processed by the Folketing at the time of this article's research.
A defined list in the directive's Annex II — including washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerating appliances, electronic displays, vacuum cleaners, servers, mobile phones and tablets. See the full list above.
No. It regulates the manufacturer's obligations to the consumer, not marketing content directly. The rule that actually governs claims in marketing is ECGT.
If a consumer chooses repair instead of replacement or a refund under the statutory legal guarantee, the guarantee period is extended by at least 12 months. This part applies more broadly than Annex II — to consumer purchases generally, not only the named product categories.
On the manufacturer's own, freely accessible website — the directive requires manufacturers of Annex II products to publish indicative prices for typical repairs there.
No, they're two different rule sets with different mechanisms. See the comparison above and our article on the Digital Product Passport.
The directive's obligations are aimed at manufacturers, importers and distributors of covered products on the EU market — but the precise scope for a non-EU brand should be checked specifically, particularly while Denmark's own implementing law is still being finalised.
A forthcoming, EU-wide platform where consumers can find registered repairers. Per the European Commission's own page, it's expected to launch in January 2028 — it isn't available yet.
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