How Long Must Spare Parts Be Available Under Right to Repair?

Sellers often want a single number: how many years must spare parts stay on the market? The honest answer is that there is no universal figure. The https://prestashopcompliance.com/eu-laws/right-to-repair/ sits alongside product-specific reparability requirements, and it is those product rules, not one blanket period, that fix how long spare parts must be available.

Why There Is No Single Number

The Right to Repair Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/1799, strengthens the duty to repair goods that are subject to EU reparability requirements. Those requirements are set product group by product group, typically through ecodesign measures, and each can specify its own spare-part obligations. A washing machine, a dishwasher, an electronic display and a smartphone are each governed by their own rules, so the availability period differs between them.

What the Product Rules Typically Cover

• Which spare parts must be made available, often distinguishing professional repairers from end users.
• For how many years after the last unit is placed on the market those parts must be supplied.
• The maximum delivery time for providing a spare part once ordered.

Because these figures live in the product-specific measures, the correct availability period for any given item is the one attached to that product category, and it should be checked against the current rule rather than assumed.

What the Directive Adds on Top

The Directive reinforces this by requiring producers of in-scope goods to repair on request within a reasonable time and at a reasonable price, even after the legal guarantee, and by restricting practices that block access to spare parts or prevent independent repairers from obtaining them. So even where a specific part period applies, the wider obligation is to keep repair genuinely possible rather than to frustrate it.

The practical takeaway for a retailer is to treat “how long are spare parts available” as a per-product question answered by that product’s reparability rule, and to confirm the figure with your supplier for each in-scope line. For the broader duties, our https://prestashopcompliance.com/guides/complete-right-to-repair-guide/ has the full picture.

This answer is for general education and does not constitute legal advice.