Even though it has not yet officially come into force, the sustainability index is already at an impasse. Brussels ruled that this tool for combating digital pollution was contrary to European law.
It was supposed to replace the now famous “reparability index”, but it will be a long time coming. The sustainability index, provided for by article 16 of the anti-waste law for a circular economy (AGEC) of 2020, has just received a warning shot from the European Commission. As revealed by the media l’Informé, the European commissioners judged that the French text is not compatible with Union law.
What is the sustainability index?
Prepared for a long time, this new index was intended to help consumers choose the most repairable devices (as the repairability index does today), but also the most reliable, durable and robust. In this sense, it extended the base of criteria taken into account in the repairability index to take into account warranty, software monitoring, scalability and a whole bunch of other criteria.
Its entry into force was to take place on January 1, 2024 with different application deadlines for each category of products. This will therefore not be the case since the publication of a text in the official journal is prevented until February 2024 and France will have to revise its texts by then if it wants to get on track.
The reason why the commission’s wrath fell on this text is quite simple: the EU is also working on a sustainability index at European level and the criteria used by Paris and Brussels do not seem compatible. More precisely, it is the coexistence of the two indices which could be contrary to Union law according to Afnum, an alliance which brings together industry bigwigs such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Samsung.
A risk of going backwards?
In a letter published on October 6, the group goes even further and takes issue with some of the criteria of the French index. According to the industrial members of the group, certain measures such as the obligation to differentiate security updates from functional updates or the possibility of installing an alternative operating system “do not represent an obvious added value for the environment“. Manufacturers also fear that the index could violate the European directive on trade secrets by forcing them to reveal protected information such as “abrasion tests for smartphones and accelerated panel tests for televisions“.
This delay in the implementation of the sustainability index worries the Stop Planned Obsolescence association which fears that this will open “an opportunity for manufacturers to revise this index downwards“. With the European project still under debate, the negotiation process could return to points that have been acquired in the French sustainability index. Taking into account the price of spare parts is notably cited, while a long-term fight had made it possible “obtaining ambitious criteria” on the subject.
Source : The Informed
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