SILICON
SILIC
CHIP
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ISSN 1030-2662
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Editorial Viewpoint
Productivity Commission report on
the Right to Repair
T
he Productivity Commission has released a draft
report on the right to repair, which you can view at
www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/repair#draft
It is open for comments. However, by the time you
read this magazine, the comment period will have ended.
While the introduction makes it clear that they understand the issues raised by the right to repair movement,
I don’t agree with some of their conclusions.
For example, they state that “Additional policies to combat premature product
obsolescence (in the form of product standards or expanded consumer protection laws to address planned obsolescence) would be unlikely to have net benefits for the community.”
I think most Silicon Chip readers will agree that this is wrong. They seem to
be conflating the concern that manufacturers purposefully create products with
a short lifespan (which I think is generally not true, with some exceptions) with
the concern that, by limiting repair options, manufacturers make repairing products so difficult that users have little choice but to replace them when they fail.
By legislating to expand those repair options, such as ensuring that spare parts
are available beyond the warranty period, consumers could more economically
keep devices functional. That would be a net benefit for the community, and I
have plenty of anecdotes to support this (many of them are published in our Serviceman’s Log column).
For example, I had an air conditioning unit fail after less than ten years due
to PCB track corrosion. The serviceman who came out told me that a replacement board was not available, so I would have to replace both the outdoor and
indoor units. I was able to fix it by soldering a wire link across the corroded track,
which took about two minutes and cost nothing. That unit went on to function
for many more years.
Consider that the vast majority of consumers in that position would have been
forced to shell out perhaps $1000 or more for new units plus the cost of removing the old units and installing the new ones. They might have also had to make
some cosmetic repairs due to the new unit not being the same size and shape as
the old one. Not to mention all the extra waste generated.
All that expense and hassle for a single corroded track that was visually obvious. I’m not knocking the serviceman; I don’t expect air conditioning companies
to train technicians to make component-level repairs, and he helped me make the
repair which saved me a lot of money and hassles. But that replacement board
really should have been available.
If it had been, I don’t think it would have cost all that much as it was little
more than an infrared receiver and a couple of ICs that relayed commands back
to the main control board. And I had already paid for the call-out, so even with
the labour to come and swap the modules over, the repair probably would have
cost a couple of hundred dollars total; way less than a new aircon.
I bet the same story is repeated over and over with washing machines, dishwashers, stoves and all manner of appliances still well within their useful lives.
“Sorry, we can’t get a replacement for the module that has failed. You’ll have to
buy a new unit.” Or something along those lines.
So, while this report seems generally supportive of the right to repair, I don’t
think the authors truly understand the situation. While there are costs associated with requiring manufacturers to offer spare parts for a longer period (more
in line with the actual useful lives of those products), likely raising the price of
those goods slightly, I am confident that the benefits would outweigh those costs.
I will be stating this in a submission to the Productivity Commission, and I
hope they take it into consideration.
by Nicholas Vinen
24-26 Lilian Fowler Pl, Marrickville 2204
2 Silicon Chip
Australia’s electronics magazine
siliconchip.com.au
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