An upcoming EU regulation will require the storage of hardware spare parts for smartphones and tablets for at least five years after they are removed from the market.
“This initiative ... aims to ensure that the cell phones phones and tablets will be designed to be energy-efficient and durable, so that consumers can easily repair, upgrade and maintain them, [and] the devices can be reused and recycled,” he describes a draft of the regulation.
The European Commission has published this draft publicly and is seeking feedback from the public and stakeholders over a four-week period.
According to the draft, the regulation is due to the "surge in demand for smartphones and tablets" which "has led to increased demand energy and materials required to manufacture these devices on the EU market, which is accompanied by an increase in the associated environmental impact.
The EU also states that these devices "are often replaced prematurely by users and at the end of their useful life, are not reused or recycled sufficiently, leading to a waste of resources".
It thus seeks to prevent premature retirement of devices and improve the repairability of key components such as batteries and displays, as well as their future possibility for recycling.
