The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 12 within the framework of the European Union
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51302/ceflegal.2023.18753Keywords:
sustainability, obsolescence, consumer goods, durability-reparability, guarantees, interchange parts, repair services, product eco-design, single European marketAbstract
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute the advanced roadmap in Europe for the sake of the much-desired sustainability. The European Union directs the main lines of its implementation, and the passage of time shows the danger of incurring in empty rhetoric about the inevitable demands of this «sustainability» in such important areas that affect consumers or users. It seems essential to make a greater effort to explain more rigorously its objectives and the foreseeable changes in the profuse regulation, regulations and preparatory work in progress that affect the useful life of consumer goods or products, which require clear and precise measures in the effective fight against technical or planned obsolescence. Within the copious and scattered national and European legislation in force, through a transversal legal analysis of the minimum useful life cycle of consumer goods, it will allow us to identify the key problems and glimpse solutions to many dysfunctionalities that are observed in the distribution chain between producers, businessmen and consumers, in the context of this gray matter that we call «Consumer Law» inevitably linked to Civil Law, an essential backbone for the best solutions. There is no doubt that the principle of sustainability of consumer goods must necessarily be combined with real and precise protection of consumer rights, in the midst of a more competitive circular and collaborative economy that really facilitates the fight against technical or planned obsolescence.
Downloads
References
Bailleux, A. (Dir.). (2021). La science juridique face aux défis d’une prospérité sans croissance. En Le droit en transition. Les clés juridiques d’une prospérité sans croissance (pp. 9-56). Presses de l’Université Saint-Louis.
Bauer, B. et al. (2018). Potential Ecodesign Requirements for Textiles and Furniture (pp. 1-57). TemaNord.
Hojnik, J. (2018). Ecological modernization through servitization: EU regulatory support for sustainable product-service systems. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL), 27, 1-14.
Huart, C. (2019). L’obsolescence programmée: une intervention législative nécessaire? Université Catholique de Louvain. http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/thesis:18618
Jepsen, D. et al. (2015). Delivering resource-efficient products. How Ecodesign can drive a circular economy in Europe. European Environmental Bureau (EEB).
Keirsbilck, B. et al. (2020). Legislación de consumo Sostenible y protección del consumidor. Departamento de Políticas de Economía, Ciencia y Políticas de Calidad de Vida, Parlamento Europeo.
Keirsbilck, B. y Rousseau, S. (2019). The marketing stage: fostering sustainable consumption choices in a ‘circular’ and ‘functional’ economy. En B. Keirsbilck y E. Terryn (Eds.), Consumer Protection in a Circular Economy (pp. 93-126). Intersentia.
Maitre-Ekern, E. y Dalhammar, C. (2019). Towards a hierarchy of consumption behaviour in the circular economy. Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 26(3), 394-420.
Michel, A. (2018). La directive 1999/44/CE sur la garantie des biens de consommation: un remède robust contre l’obsolescence programmée? REDC, 207-236.
Michel, A. (2021). Est-il pertinent de définir légalement et de pénaliser les pratiques d’obsolescence prématurée? Analyse de la loi française au regard des récentes décisions italiennes contre Apple et Samsung. En A. Bailleux (Dir.), Le droit en transition. Les clés juridiques d’une prospérité sans croissance (pp. 245-283). Presses de l’Université Saint-Louis.
Montalvo, C., Peck, D. y Rietveld, E. (2016). A longer lifetime for products: benefits for consumers and companies. Estudio para Comité IMCO, IP/A/IMCO/2015-11.
Terryn, E. (2019). A Right to Repair: Towards Sustainable Remedies in Consumer Law. ERPL, 851-874.
Oehme, I. y Jacob, A. (2017). Estrategias contra la obsolescencia. Garantizar una vida útil mínima del producto y mejorar la vida útil del producto, así como la información al consumidor. Umwelt Bundesamt.
Tonner, K. y Malcolm, R. (2017). How an EU Lifespan Guarantee Model Could Be Implemented Across the European Union. Parlamento Europeo.
Van Acker, K. et al. (2016). Economía circular. Grupo de trabajo del documento de posición Metaforum, KU-Leuven Metaforum, 15.
Willet, C. (2009). Responsabilidad directa del productor. En G. Howells y R. Schulze, Modernizing and harmonizing Consumer Contract Law (pp. 189-213). Sellier.
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 2023-05-04 (2)
- 2023-04-17 (1)









