On September 7, 2026, Right to Repair Europe and iFixit announced the results of a review of smartphone product registrations in the EU. They found that about 80% failed to point adequately to repair information. More than a year has passed since the regulation requiring repairability labeling began to apply on June 20, 2025. The system is supposed to let buyers choose products that last longer, yet the information needed to make that judgment is hard to reach. Some registrations pair the top "A" rating with a repair link that is effectively blank, which shows the gap between a high score and being able to actually get a repair done and judge its cost.
What does the "about 80%" figure actually measure?
The review covered 2,334 smartphone registrations in the EU product database EPREL. The groups examined records for models placed on the market over the past year and report that only about 18% listed a website where spare-part prices and repair instructions could easily be found. EPREL is the system in which manufacturers, importers and others register information related to energy labels.
About half of the registrations left the field meant for a URL empty. Another 19% pointed to product pages or support pages that contained no repair instructions or part prices. Problems were found both at the stage of providing a link and at the stage of providing usable information behind it. Survey report
The figure cannot, however, be read as "80% of smartphones sold in Europe cannot be repaired." The denominator is the number of registrations, not units sold, so it does not reflect market share. Nor is it a test in which devices were taken apart to see whether they could be repaired. The published report is a summary, and it does not include data that would let others re-verify every judgment.
Still, missing information at the entry point to repair is a concrete problem for consumers. Can you buy a part when the screen cracks, and how much does it cost? If that can't be checked before purchase, the cost of keeping a phone longer can't be compared alongside its sticker price.
Free public information versus professional-only information
The EU ecodesign regulation requires manufacturers and others to publish, on a public website, a list of spare parts, how to order them, and the pre-tax reference prices of the relevant parts. Prices must be shown at least in euros. "Public website" is also clearly defined: a site that can be viewed without payment or providing personal information such as an email address or phone number. Regulation 2023/1670, Annexes I and II
Who receives repair information depends on the type of part and information. For parts also supplied to ordinary users, such as displays, repair instructions detailed enough for replacement must be published free of charge. Information needed by professional repairers, such as board diagrams and diagnostic information, can be placed behind a registration process that checks technical competence and insurance, and reasonable and proportionate fees for access are also allowed.
So requiring registration for professional-only information is not in itself a violation. Conversely, a setup in which part prices that must be public are given only to people who ask cannot satisfy the disclosure obligation. It is necessary to separate which information must be shown to whom.
The periods for supply and information are also not counted from the date of purchase. For the relevant parts, the regulation requires supply and related obligations for at least seven years after the last unit of the model is placed on the market. It is meant to keep repair supported after sales end, not to end with a description page created at launch.
Rated A, but the repair link is blank or goes to Temu
Individual EPREL registration sheets show a mismatch between a self-declared repair score and the pointers a user would need to check the basis for it. When the groups' examples, the smartphone "OUKITEL WP35 Pro" and the tablet "I17," are compared against their registration sheets, the picture is as follows.
| Registration sheet item | OUKITEL WP35 Pro | I17 tablet |
|---|---|---|
| Repairability class | A | A |
| Repairability index | 4.10 | 4.00 |
| Repair information score | 5 | 5 |
| Spare-part availability link | "/" only | Temu home page |
| User repair instructions | "/" only | Temu home page |
| Pre-tax reference prices | "/" only | Temu home page |
Sources: the WP35 Pro registration sheet and the I17 registration sheet. The table lines up the rating and link fields of each sheet as checked on September 9, 2026; the tablet was not added to the count of 2,334 smartphones.
Both devices have a perfect repair information score of 5, but the links on the registration sheets do not lead to model-specific repair information corresponding to that score. Under the EU scoring criteria, earning that 5 requires providing repair and maintenance information, excluding board diagrams, free to ordinary users and free to professionals including board diagrams. Pointing only to an online marketplace's home page does not tell anyone which part to buy or how to replace it.
Here too, a problem with the registration should be distinguished from a confirmed legal violation. The WP35 Pro sheet records the model's first market placement as May 13, 2025, before the regulation applied. But according to the European Commission, the requirements that apply are determined by when each individual product was first placed on the market. The model's launch date alone cannot establish whether every unit now in circulation is covered or exempt. European Commission explanation of placing on the market
What this comparison directly confirms is that the registration sheets lack pointers to information matching the high declared scores. Whether the manufacturer provides the information elsewhere, or whether individual units meet the requirements, needs further investigation.
Repairability scores do not include part prices
The EU repairability index is a weighted average of six items. The number of steps needed for disassembly carries 25%, and fasteners and required tools, spare-part supply, software update period, and repair information each carry 15%. Part prices are not part of the calculation. Regulation 2023/1669, Annex IV, point 5
The spare-part supply score does not measure cheapness either. The score changes depending on which parts are supplied to both ordinary users and professional repairers. The repair information score assesses the scope of free provision. In other words, the displayed class alone cannot tell you how much a battery or screen replacement will cost.
There is precedent for factoring in price. The repairability index France introduced built into the assessment how a part's price compares with the price of a new device. The EU chose to require part prices to be published while calculating the class from other items. This difference means consumers must find price information themselves and check it against the class. French Ministry of Economy / DGCCRF explanation of the scheme
When the path to price disclosure breaks, this division of roles stops working. Buyers can choose a phone that is easy to disassemble but find it hard to factor in repair costs. There is also a competitive problem: companies that prepare repair information and show part prices clearly find it harder to turn that effort into an advantage at the point of purchase.
Precedent for correction, and the 2027 review
In France, authorities have actually inspected labeling and the basis for scoring. A DGCCRF survey published in March 2024 found that of 523 establishments inspected in 2022, 341, or 65%, had deficiencies related to the repairability index. It issued 89 corrective orders, and many businesses worked on the necessary corrections, with some fixing problems during the inspection itself. The timing, system and denominator differ from this EU review, but it is a precedent of monitoring leading to concrete corrections.
Under the EU labeling regulation too, verification through market surveillance is the responsibility of member states. Suppliers have obligations to register product information, and retailers have obligations regarding display. Being able to register in the database should not be taken to mean that authorities have certified repairability.
The deficiencies here are a mix of problems that differ in how hard they are to check. An empty URL field can be found mechanically, but whether the linked page shows part prices for the specific model requires checking content. Verifying whether the conditions for a perfect repair information score are met requires comparing the scope of public information with the terms offered to professionals. If correction is considered complete once the URL field is filled in, a state in which information cannot be obtained remains.
The European Commission has a deadline of September 20, 2027, to present the results of its review of the labeling regulation. Among the items for consideration, the review explicitly lists whether it is appropriate to add part prices and similar factors to the repairability index. That does not mean including prices has been decided, but it is a question the system itself left open. Until then, a measure of improvement visible to consumers will be whether they can check a specific model's parts and prices right next to its class.