The smartphone and tablet market is preparing to change face: starting next Friday 20 June, in fact, all the models that will be sold within the territory of the European Union, and this will also be worthwhile for non -EU producers, must be compulsorily equipped with labels similar to those already existing for household appliances.
The novelty, included in Regulation 2023/1669, aims to make the choice of the mobile electronic device to be purchased more aware for the consumer, providing a series of information of various kinds and promoting the parameter of the sustainability environmental. In these labels, which must be both easily readable on the packs of smartphones and tablets that can be consulted in electronic format, in the event of online purchase, numerous details will be reported on the device you intend to buy, such as
- energy efficiency;
- the duration of a battery cycle;
- battery life in cycles;
- the level of dust resistance, water sketches and accidental falls;
- the degree of reparactability of the electronic device, or the ease of repair and availability of spare parts.
THE’energy efficiency Products are classified with a score ranging from A (the highest level) to G (the lowest), in a form similar to that already known for some time for appliances. In sustainability the part dedicated to the drumsof which they will be evaluated:
- the number of complete charging click before it goes below the 80% threshold of its original capacity (they must be at least 800 by regulation);
- the time needed for complete charging, which will be indicated in minutes;
- The residual capacity of the device battery after 500 complete cycles, a data thanks to which the buyer will understand the durability in the time of his cell phone or tablet.
The obligation to resort to labels will be valid for smartphones that use cellular or satellite networks, cordless phones for domestic use, “Feature Phone” (those used only to call and send SMS, without web access) and tablets with a screen between 7 and 17.4 inches. The only exception are the devices of those with flexible displaycomputer tablets, or those equipped with Windows and can be connected to a keyboard, and finally those devices already placed on the EU market before June 20, 2025.
The goal, in addition to providing more precise indications to consumers about the sustainability of the device that will be bought, is to encourage the purchase of more durable devices over time, resistant and easily repairable. In this sense, the promotion of the right to repairto increase the life of smartphones and tablets and consequently reduce the amount of electronic waste intended for disposal. The prohibitive costs, the biblical times and the difficulties in finding spare parts, in fact, discouraged the consumer to travel this way to choose the purchase of a new device instead, and it is this phenomenon that the EU wants to contrast.
The new rules will in fact oblige manufacturers to facilitate repair procedures: spare parts must in fact be easily available up to 7 years From the release date of the product on the market, and in case of need they will be made available to the customer to the maximum within 10 days working from the date of the request.
The repair will therefore be much simpler and faster, and it will be the same user to be able to provide for it thanks to the accessibility to the spare parts and the manuals of the device, without having to therefore necessarily have things, as happens today, to face the times and the greatest costs of the traditional assistance centers.