This Bill amends the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 to require manufacturers to make repair parts and information available to consumers. This will extend the lifetime of products, keeping resources in circulation and waste out of landfills. This reform is an important step toward building a circular resource economy to mitigate climate change and protect biodiversity. By enabling consumers to repair rather than replace products, it also reduces household expenses at a moment when cost pressures are particularly acute.

This Bill gives consumers the right to repair their products by repealing section 42, replacing section 12 and inserting new section 19A. Section 42 provides that repair facilities and parts do not have to be made available if the consumer is notified at the time the product is supplied that these will not be available. This means that many products, which might be easily repaired, are instead dumped. The Bill removes this provision. The Bill also replaces section 12 to expand consumers’ guarantees regarding information, repairs, and spare parts. It requires that the manufacturer provides, upon the consumers’ request, the information, spare parts, and tools necessary to diagnose, maintain, or repair goods which have been supplied by the manufacturer. New section 19A empowers consumers to request that suppliers repair goods rather than replacing them.

Keeping products in use as long as practicably possible preserves valuable resources. It reduces the emissions created by producing and transporting new products. Resources are kept in circulation and out of landfills. It is a small but critical step toward upholding New Zealand’s commitment, under the Paris Agreement, to contribute to the global effort to limit global warming to an increase of 1.5°C. Equally, strengthening consumers’ right to repair will help to alleviate current financial pressures which, while occurring globally, are felt most acutely by those with the least.