The washing machine breaks – and a glance at the receipt shows: Warranty has just expired. Consumers should experience such annoying situations less often in the future. Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht advocates longer warranty periods. “Consumers can rightly expect high-quality products to be usable in the long term,” said the SPD politician of the German press agency. With their demands Lambrecht goes well beyond what has been planned in the black-red federal government.

Longer warranty period required Currently, a standard warranty period of two years applies in Germany – if the purchased product breaks within the first six months, one automatically assumes that it was defective when it was purchased, later the buyer has to prove this. The Ministry of Justice has presented a draft law, according to which this period is to be extended to one year. The minister said that two years of warranty are not appropriate for cars or expensive electrical appliances. Instead, the deadline should be based on the expected service life of the products.

Lambrecht expects a longer warranty to give manufacturers an economic incentive to develop particularly durable and easily repairable products. “This would counter a throw-away mentality and strengthen a modern, sustainable recycling economy.”

Achieve better quality Consumer advocates see it similarly. “Longer warranty periods naturally increase the pressure on the economy to really produce quality,” said the head of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), Klaus Müller, of the dpa. There is a broad desire in society that consumption contributes to sustainability. “First, because we can see the amount of waste we produce. Second, because it is simply a cost burden when things that I have bought break too quickly.” Even those who buy their electrical appliances used then know: “The thing is not defective after a year and a half or two years”. At least, according to his impression, washing machines would have lasted much longer earlier, said Müller.

According to a study by the Öko-Institut for the vzbv, one could save 3.7 billion euros per year if washing machines, televisions, Notebooks and smartphones would be used longer. A service life of 17 years (instead of an average of 12 years) or for notebooks is assumed for washing machines of 10 years (instead of 5 years). “That would be a crazy economic stimulus program and one would save four million tons of climate-damaging greenhouse gases at the same time,” emphasized the consumer advocate.

Right to repair Müller does not accept the counter-argument that products with a longer warranty would have to be sold more expensively. An expert opinion shows that electrical appliances in EU countries with longer warranty periods are no more expensive than in Germany. A longer warranty period also includes the right to repair, which has already been decided at EU level.

Lambrecht is also planning an update obligation for sellers of digital products. Smartphones or tablets should still be safe and easy to use long after they were bought. However, it does not initially provide for legally regulated periods of time. Müller suggested that the update requirement should also be based on the lifespan of the products.

(mho)