ABSTRACT
Starting in August 2026, consumers purchasing goods within the EU will gain new rights of repair for a number of electronic household products specified in the EU Repair Directive (RD). This development will help support a sustainability transition towards a Circular Economy. The Directive’s two-pronged approach vests the consumer with a right to repair not only against the seller but also vis-à-vis the manufacturer and the product’s economic operators. The claims against manufacturers and economic operators under Art 5 RD are the central novelty of the RD: They establish a direct private law obligation between the two remote ends of a multi-unit (international) supply chain while further suggesting a multiple-liability structure in respect of that supply chain. This novel repair claim entails numerous doctrinal questions on the level of private law and private international law (PIL). The paper examines these questions, analysing the doctrinal foundations and pivotal points of interpretation which are essential for a coherent and effective implementation of the provision. The various ways in which the repair claim could be implemented into the national private law of the Member States make a number of PIL-characterisations conceivable. Discussing these possible characterisations, the paper argues that construing the right to repair as a (quasi-)contractual claim best reflects the intention of Art 5 RD. Simultaneously, such an understanding also best ensures that the Directive will have a meaningful impact in cross-border contexts both within and beyond the EU as it allows application of the highly effective EU-PIL rules governing consumer contracts.
Sommerfeld, Antonia, Claiming the EU Right to Repair from Manufacturers in Cross-Border Contexts (July 18, 2025). Edited Volume of the Lindemann Fellowship for Private International Law, Forthcoming; Max Planck Private Law Research Paper No 25/16.
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