Right to Repair in 2026: What the New Rules Mean for Business Devices

Last updated: 10 October 2026

Short answer: in 2026 repair is becoming a legal requirement rather than a favour. In the EU, smartphones and tablets sold since June 2025 must have spare parts for seven years, operating system updates for at least five years and a repairability score on the label; the Right to Repair Directive applies from 31 July 2026 and obliges manufacturers to offer repairs for listed products; laptops have had to use USB-C charging since April 2026, and from February 2027 portable batteries must be user-replaceable. In the US, several states, including New York, California, Minnesota, Colorado and Oregon, require parts, tools and manuals for consumer electronics. Most of these rights are written for consumers, so businesses benefit mainly by buying repairable devices in the first place.

This is a summary for IT buyers and business owners, not legal advice.

Why does right to repair matter to a business?

Because devices are replaced more often than they wear out. A cracked screen, a tired battery or a manufacturer that stops issuing updates can end a laptop's working life years early. Repairable devices last longer, which lowers the cost per year of each device, reduces e-waste and makes it easier to keep hardware secure. When devices do reach the end, my guide to securely wiping old laptops and phones covers retiring them safely.

What applies in the EU?

Smartphones and tablets: ecodesign rules since June 2025

Under Regulations (EU) 2023/1670 and 2023/1669, phones and tablets placed on the EU market since 20 June 2025 must:

• have spare parts available for seven years after the model stops being sold, delivered within 5 to 10 working days;
• have batteries that keep at least 80% of their capacity after 800 charge cycles;
• receive operating system updates for at least five years after the last unit is sold;
• carry an energy label showing a repairability class, battery endurance, drop resistance and water and dust protection.

The repairability class is a useful buying signal in its own right: compare it as you would energy efficiency.

The Right to Repair Directive: from 31 July 2026

Directive (EU) 2024/1799 had to be applied by EU countries from 31 July 2026. Its main points:

• Manufacturers must offer repair of products covered by EU repairability requirements, such as phones, tablets, washing machines and displays, within a reasonable time and for a reasonable price, including after the legal guarantee has ended. They must make spare parts available at reasonable prices and publish indicative repair prices.
• No obstruction. Manufacturers may not use "contractual clauses, hardware or software techniques that impede the repair" of those products unless justified by legitimate and objective factors. This targets practices such as parts pairing, where a replacement part only works once the manufacturer approves it.
• Independent repair must be possible with original, second-hand, compatible or 3D-printed parts.
• Longer guarantees for repair. If a consumer chooses repair over replacement during the legal guarantee, the guarantee is extended by an extra year.
• A standard European Repair Information Form lets repairers quote terms that stay valid for 30 days, and an EU online repair platform is due to launch in 2028.

Note that laptops are not currently on the directive's product list; they can be added later if ecodesign repair rules are adopted for them.

Common charger and replaceable batteries

• USB-C charging has been required for phones, tablets and cameras since December 2024 and for laptops since 28 April 2026, under the common charger directive. One charger type across a fleet means fewer accessories to buy and manage.
• From 18 February 2027, the EU Batteries Regulation requires portable batteries in most devices to be removable and replaceable by the user with commercially available tools, with narrow exceptions.

What applies in the UK?

Great Britain's 2021 ecodesign regulations introduced repair requirements for appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, fridges and televisions, with spare parts for 7 to 10 years. They do not cover phones or laptops. Products sold in both markets will usually meet the stricter EU rules anyway.

What applies in the US?

There is no federal right-to-repair law, but the Federal Trade Commission's 2021 report to Congress, Nixing the Fix, found scant evidence for many manufacturers' justifications for repair restrictions, and the FTC has since made them an enforcement priority. Several states have acted:

Most of these laws cover consumer electronics and exclude items such as medical devices, vehicles and game consoles. Business buyers on special enterprise contracts may fall outside some of them, as in New York.

What are manufacturers offering?

• Apple's Self Service Repair offers genuine parts, tools and manuals for iPhone, iPad and Mac in 34 countries, with software to configure parts after repair.
• Microsoft sells Surface replacement parts and official guides through iFixit and through commercial resellers.
• Dell, HP and Lenovo publish service manuals and customer-replaceable parts for business laptops. Some recent business models now score highly with the repair site iFixit: Lenovo's ThinkPad T14 Gen 7 and T16 Gen 5 scored 10 out of 10 in 2026, matching the modular Framework Laptop.

How should a business use this?

1. Make repairability a purchase criterion. In the EU, check the repairability class on phone and tablet labels. For laptops, check iFixit scores and whether the manufacturer publishes service manuals and sells parts.
2. Use procurement certifications. EPEAT criteria now include a prohibition on software parts pairing as a barrier to repair and require replacement parts to be available. TCO Certified's latest generation for notebooks requires a user-replaceable battery and long security update support.
3. Plan for longer lifecycles. Five years of updates and seven years of parts make four- to six-year replacement cycles realistic for many roles, especially with a battery replacement mid-life.
4. Budget for repair, not just replacement. A battery or screen replacement is usually a fraction of a new device's price.
5. Mind security. A device is only worth keeping while it receives security updates. The EU's Cyber Resilience Act adds a minimum five-year support period for many connected products sold from December 2027.
6. Check sustainability reporting. The EU's corporate sustainability reporting rules were narrowed in 2026 to very large companies, but large customers may still ask suppliers about device lifecycles and e-waste.

If you are choosing new hardware now, my guide to picking a laptop for engineering work covers performance; add repairability to that checklist.

FAQ

Does the EU Right to Repair Directive apply to business purchases?
It is written mainly as consumer protection, so business buyers may not have the same direct rights. They still benefit from the product rules, such as spare parts availability, software updates and replaceable batteries, which apply to the products themselves.

Are laptops covered by EU right-to-repair rules?
Not yet by the Right to Repair Directive's product list. They are covered by the USB-C charging rule since April 2026 and, from 2027, by the battery removability requirements.

What is parts pairing?
A practice where a replacement part, such as a screen or battery, only works fully after the manufacturer's software links it to the device's serial number. Several US states and EU rules now restrict it when it blocks independent repair.

Will repairable devices cost more?
Sometimes slightly at purchase, but a longer working life and cheaper repairs usually lower the total cost over the device's life.