Quebec City, Quebec – The push to reduce the planned obsolescence of consumer goods continues to push ahead with the National Assembly of Quebec expanding on its initial policy of Bill 29 in a recent assembly.
On September 13, the National Assembly of Quebec met to discuss further amendments to Bill 29–“An act to protect consumers from planned obsolescence and to promote the durability and maintenance of goods”–which was originally introduced during the 43rd Legislature, 1st Session. During the session, such amendments were added to the bill concerning reasonable costs for repairs as well as the maximum timeline for repairs.
Équiterre–a non-governmental organization which “seeks to make the necessary collective transitions towards an equitable and environmentally sound future”–wants to ensure a reasonable price for repairs. The organization specifically wants to ensure that repairs cost between 18 percent and 40 percent of the acquisition price of a new item in addition to adding a notion of proportionality.
The group also wants to add a sustainability index with a scale of one to ten that would also provide the reliability and reparability of goods (as is done in France).
The Union des consommateurs, which was heard as part of the consultation on the bill, requested that the maximum period for repair be extended to 25 days.
“When a consumer good that is usually used on a daily basis needs to be repaired, consumers want to be able to recover a functional good quickly,” The Union des consommateurs said in its brief submitted to the National Assembly.
Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy said she wanted the fines that could be imposed on companies that do not comply with the future law to be greater, otherwise they would not have a deterrent effect, according to her.
“I am not satisfied with the level of fines. … If we want there to be a real effect, the fines must be truly dissuasive otherwise Apple will, once again, laugh at us!”
The passing of Bill 29 will mean massive shifts for the automotive industry both from a consumer and industry perspective. With goods being expected to be repaired with common tools and without causing irreversible damage, auto manufacturers will have to shift the mindset of what it means to build a car for the roads of tomorrow.
The original draft of Bill 29 mainly proposed amendments to the Consumer Protection Act by introducing “a legal warranty of good working order for certain new goods that are commonly used.”
Under the original draft, merchants would be required to “provide information on legal warranties of good working order before entering into a contract that includes an additional warranty,” and consumers would be allowed to “resolve such a contract, at their discretion, within 10 days after the contract is entered into.”
Bill 29 would apply to such consumer goods as cell phones, tablets, or other electronic devices and accessories such as chargers and wires. The bill would also apply to automobiles with the first draft of section 39.4 and 39.5 claiming that:
“The manufacturer of an automobile must provide the automobile owner or long-term lessee, or their mandatary, with access to the automobile’s data for purposes of diagnostic, maintenance or repair. The manufacturer may not be released from that obligation (…).”
“Where a merchant or a manufacturer fails to make available the replacement parts, repair services or information necessary to repair goods for the time provided for in section 39, the consumer may request that the merchant or the manufacturer repair the goods requiring it. The merchant or the manufacturer must advise the consumer in writing, within 10 days of the consumer’s request, of the time within which they propose to carry out the repairs.”
