ANNEX II
Ecodesign requirements
A. MOBILE PHONES OTHER THAN SMARTPHONES
1. RESOURCE EFFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS
1.1. Design for repair and reuse
(1) Availability of spare parts:
(a)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers at least the following spare parts, including required fasteners, if not reusable, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, when present:
(i)
battery or batteries;
(ii)
front-facing camera assembly;
(iii)
rear-facing camera assembly;
(iv)
external audio connector(s);
(v)
external charging port(s);
(vi)
mechanical button(s);
(vii)
main microphone(s);
(viii)
speaker(s);
(ix)
hinge assembly;
(x)
mechanical display folding mechanism.
(b)
Spare parts concerned by points (a) and (c) shall not be assemblies comprising more than one of the listed spare part types, with the following exceptions:
(i)
microphones may be part of a loudspeaker or external charging port assembly;
(ii)
external audio connector(s) may be combined with the external charging port(s) as the same port(s);
(iii)
external charging port(s) may be combined with the external audio connector(s) as the same port(s);
(iv)
hinge assembly may be part of a mechanical display folding mechanism;
(v)
microphone, speaker(s), buttons and external connectors may be combined with a higher level assembly if the following reliability requirements are met:
—
the power button has a contact closure cycle resistance ≥225 000 cycles;
—
the volume button has a contact closure cycle resistance ≥100 000 cycles;
—
the charging connector has a insertion/extraction cycle resistance ≥12 000 cycles.
(c)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later:
(i)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers and end-users at least the following spare parts, including required fasteners, if not reusable, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market:
(a)
battery or batteries;
(b)
back cover or back cover assembly, if to be fully removed for replacement of the battery;
(c)
protective foil for foldable displays;
(d)
display assembly;
(e)
charger, unless the device complies with Article 3(4) of Directive 2014/53/EU ( 1 ) ;
(f)
SIM tray and memory card tray, if there is an external slot for a SIM tray or memory card tray.
(ii)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may provide the battery or batteries referred to in point (i)(a) only to professional repairers if manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives ensure that the following requirements are met:
(a)
after 500 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 83 % of the rated capacity;
(b)
the battery endurance in cycles achieves a minimum of 1 000 full charge cycles and after 1 000 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 80 % of the rated capacity;
(c)
the device meets IP67 rating.
(d)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, the list of spare parts concerned by point (a) and (c) and the procedure for ordering them shall be publicly available on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until the end of the period of availability of these spare parts;
(2) Access to repair and maintenance information
(a)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, at least until 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, provide access to repair and maintenance information to professional repairers for parts covered by points 1(a) and (c) in the following conditions, unless that information is made publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative:
(a)
The manufacturer’s, importer’s or authorised representative’s website shall indicate the process for professional repairers to register for access to information; to accept such a request, the manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may only require the professional repairer to demonstrate that:
(i)
the professional repairer has the technical competence to repair mobile phones other than smartphones and complies with the applicable regulations for repairers of electrical equipment in the Member States where it operates. Reference to an official registration system as professional repairer, where such system exists in the Member States concerned, shall be accepted as proof of compliance with this point;
(ii)
the professional repairer is covered by insurance covering liabilities resulting from its activity regardless of whether this is required by the Member State;
(b)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall accept or refuse the registration within 5 working days from the date of request. In the case of refusal, a clear justification will be provided to the requestee outlining the reasons behind such decision, which shall be revoked, if the same professional repairer requests to be registered with updated information, which complies with the conditions for being granted access;
(c)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may charge reasonable and proportionate fees for access to the repair and maintenance information or for receiving regular updates of such information. The registration as such shall be provided for free. A fee shall be considered reasonable in particular if it does not discourage access by failing to take into account the extent to which the professional repairer uses the information;
(d)
Once registered, a professional repairer shall have access, within 1 working day after requesting it, to the requested repair and maintenance information. The information may be provided for an equivalent model or model of the same family, if relevant;
(e)
The repair and maintenance information referred to in point (a) shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by point 1(a) and (c) and shall at least include:
(i)
the unequivocal product identification;
(ii)
a disassembly map or exploded view;
(iii)
wiring and connection diagrams, as required for failure analysis;
(iv)
electronic board diagrams;
(v)
a list of necessary repair and test equipment;
(vi)
technical manual of instructions for repair, including marking of the individual steps;
(vii)
diagnostic fault and error information (including manufacturer-specific codes, where applicable);
(viii)
component and diagnosis information (such as minimum and maximum theoretical values for measurements);
(ix)
instructions for software and firmware (including reset software);
(x)
information on how to access data records of reported failure incidents stored on the device, where applicable, with theexception of personal identifiable information such as related to user behavior and location information;
(xi)
information on how to access professional repair, including the internet webpages, addresses and contact details of professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2 (a) and (b);
(f)
Without prejudice to intellectual property rights, third parties shall be allowed to use and publish unaltered repair and maintenance information initially published by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative and covered by point (e) once the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative terminates access to that information after the end of the period of access to repair and maintenance information.
(b)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, repair instructions and maintenance information for parts concerned by point 1(c) shall be publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market. This information shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by point 1(c).
(3) Maximum delivery time of spare parts
(a)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that:
(i)
during the first 5 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), spare parts are delivered within 5 working days after having received the order;
(ii)
during the remaining 2 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), spare parts are delivered within 10 working days after having received the order.
(b)
In the case of spare parts concerned by point 1(a), the availability of spare parts may be limited to professional repairers registered in accordance with point 2 (a) and (b).
(4) Information on the price of spare parts
During the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide indicative pre-tax prices at least in euro for spare parts listed in points 1(a) and (c), including the pre-tax price of fasteners and tools, if supplied with the spare part, on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative.
(5) Disassembly requirements
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall meet the following disassembly requirements:
(a)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for replacement of the display assembly and of parts referred to in point 1(a), with the exception of the battery or batteries, meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible in at least one of the following ways:
—
with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
with commercially available tools.
(iii)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out in a workshop environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out by a generalist.
(b)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for replacement of parts referred to in point 1(c), with the exception of the battery or batteries, meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
(iii)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a use environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.
(c)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for battery replacement:
(i)
meets the following criteria:
—
fasteners shall be resupplied or reusable;
—
the process for replacement shall be feasible with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a use environment;
—
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.
(ii)
or, as an alternative to point (i), ensure that:
—
the process for battery replacement meets the criteria set out in (a);
—
after 500 full charge cycles the battery must, in addition, have in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 83 % of the rated capacity;
—
the battery endurance in cycles achieves a minimum of 1 000 full charge cycles, and after 1 000 full charge cycles the battery must, in addition, have in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 80 % of the rated capacity;
—
the device is at least dust tight and protected against immersion in water up to one meter depth for a minimum of 30 minutes.
(6) Requirements for preparation for reuse
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that devices include a software function, that resets the device to its factory settings and erases securely by default all personal information including but not limited to address book, text messages, pictures, videos, settings and call history.
1.2. Design for reliability
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Resistance to accidental drops: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices pass 45 falls without any protective foil or separate protective cover, except for foldable mobile phones other than smartphones designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display, without loss of functionality, following the test procedure set out in Annex III; foldable mobile phones other than smartphones designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display shall pass 35 falls in the un-extended state and 15 falls in the extended state, without loss of functionality, following the test procedure set out in Annex III and tested with the protective foil.
(2)
Scratch resistance: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the screen of the device passes the hardness level 4 on the Mohs hardness scale, except for foldable mobile phones other than smartphones designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display.
(3)
Protection from dust and water: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices are protected against the ingress of solid foreign objects of size bigger than 1 millimeter and splashing of water.
(4)
Battery endurance in cycles: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices achieve at least 500 cycles at 80 % remaining capacity, to be tested under charging conditions where the charging rate is limited by the battery management system and not by the power delivery capabilities of the power supply.
(5)
Battery management:
(i)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall include an optional charging feature selectable by the user which terminates the charging process automatically, when the battery is charged to 80 % of its full capacity. When this feature is enabled, manufacturers, importers, or authorised representatives may enable the device to periodically fully charge the battery for the purposes of maintaining accurate battery state of charge estimates. The user shall be informed automatically when charging the device for the first time or during the installation process, that the life span of the battery can be extended if the feature is selected and the battery is regularly charged only to 80 % of its full capacity;
(ii)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide a power management feature which by default ensures that once the battery is fully charged there is no further charging power supplied to the battery unless the charge level drops below 95 % of its maximum charge capacity.
(6)
Operating system updates:
(a)
from the date of end of placement on the market to at least 5 years after that date, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, if they provide security updates, corrective updates or functionality updates to an operating system, make such updates available at no cost for all units of a product model with the same operating system;
(b)
the requirement referred to in point (a) shall apply both to operating system updates offered voluntarily by manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives and to operating system updates provided to comply with Union law;
(c)
security updates or corrective updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 4 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;
(d)
functionality updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 6 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;
(e)
an operating system update may combine security, corrective and functionality updates.
1.3. Marking of plastic components
From 20 June 2025, plastic components heavier than 50 g shall be marked by specifying the type of polymer with the appropriate standard symbols or abbreviated terms set between the punctuation marks ‘>’ and ‘<’ as specified in available standards. The marking shall be legible.
Plastic components shall be exempt from marking requirements provided the following conditions are fulfilled:
(i)
the marking is not possible because of the shape or size;
(ii)
the marking would impact on the performance or functionality of the plastic component;
(iii)
marking is technically not possible because of the molding method.
For the following plastic components no marking shall be required:
(i)
packaging, tape, labels and stretch wraps;
(ii)
wiring, cables and connectors, rubber parts and any other component where not enough appropriate surface area is available for the marking to be of a legible size;
(iii)
PCB assemblies, PMMA boards, optical components, electrostatic discharge components, electromagnetic interference components, speakers;
(iv)
transparent parts where the marking would obstruct the function of the part in question.
1.4. Recyclability requirements
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or their authorised representatives shall, without prejudice to Article 15(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2 ) , make available, on a free access website, the dismantling information needed to access any of the products components referred to in Annex VII, point 1, of Directive 2012/19/EU.
(2)
The information referred to in point (1) shall include the sequence of dismantling steps, tools or technologies needed to access the targeted components.
(3)
The information referred to in point (1) shall be available until at least 15 years after the placing on the market of the last unit of a product model.
2. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide in the technical documentation and make publicly available on free access websites of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative the following information:
(a)
compatibility with removable memory cards, if any;
(b)
indicative weight range of the following critical raw materials and environmentally relevant materials:
(i)
cobalt in the battery (weight range: less than 2 g, between 2 g and 5 g, above 5 g);
(ii)
tantalum in capacitors (weight range: less than 0,05 g, between 0,05 g and 0,2 g, above 0,2 g);
(iii)
neodymium in loud speakers, vibration motors, and other magnets (weight range: less than 0,05 g, between 0,05 g and 0,2 g, above 0,2 g);
(iv)
gold in all components (weight range: less than 0,02 g, between 0,02 g and 0,1 g, above 0,1 g).
(c)
the indicative value of the recyclability rate R cyc ;
(d)
the indicative percentage of recycled content for the product or a part thereof, where available; if not available, the recycled content should be indicated as “not known” or “not available”;
(e)
ingress protection rating;
(f)
minimum battery endurance in cycles in number of cycles;
(g)
in case of foldable devices, it shall be indicated that ‘This device did not undergo a scratch resistance test’.
(2)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide user instructions in the form of a user manual on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative. Those instruction shall include instructions for battery maintenance, including the following:
(i)
impacts on battery lifetime related to exposure of the device to elevated temperatures, suboptimal charging patterns, fast charging and other known adverse factors;
(ii)
effects of switching off radio connections, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, on power consumption;
(iii)
information about whether the device supports other features, which extend battery lifetime, such as smart charging and about how these features are activated or under which conditions they work best.
(3)
Where the package does not include a charger, the user instructions referred to in point 2 shall include the following information: “For environmental reasons this package does not include a charger. This device can be powered with most USB power adapters and a cable with USB Type-C plug.”.
B. SMARTPHONES
1. RESOURCE EFFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS
1.1. Design for repair and reuse
(1) Availability of spare parts
(a)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers at least the following spare parts, including required fasteners, if not reusable, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, when present:
(i)
battery or batteries;
(ii)
front-facing camera assembly;
(iii)
rear-facing camera assembly;
(iv)
external audio connector(s);
(v)
external charging port(s);
(vi)
mechanical button(s);
(vii)
main microphone(s);
(viii)
speaker(s);
(ix)
hinge assembly;
(x)
mechanical display folding mechanism.
(b)
Spare parts concerned by points (a) and (c) shall not be assemblies comprising more than one of the listed spare part types, with the following exceptions:
(i)
microphones may be part of a loudspeaker or external charging port assembly;
(ii)
external audio connector(s) may be combined with the external charging port(s) as the same port(s);
(iii)
external charging port(s) may be combined with the external audio connector(s) as the same port(s);
(iv)
hinge assembly may be part of a mechanical display folding mechanism;
(v)
microphone, speaker(s), buttons and external connectors may be combined with a higher level assembly if the following reliability requirements are met:
—
the device meets IP67 rating;
—
the power button has a contact closure cycle resistance ≥225 000 cycles;
—
the volume button has a contact closure cycle resistance ≥100 000 cycles;
—
the charging connector has a insertion/extraction cycle resistance ≥12 000 cycles.
(c)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later:
(i)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers and end-users at least the following spare parts, including required fasteners, if not reusable, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market:
(a)
battery or batteries;
(b)
back cover or back cover assembly, if to be fully removed for replacement of the battery;
(c)
protective foil for foldable displays;
(d)
display assembly;
(e)
charger, unless the device complies with Article 3(4) of Directive 2014/53/EU;
(f)
SIM tray and memory card tray, if there is an external slot for a SIM tray or memory card tray.
(ii)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may provide the battery or batteries referred to in point (i)(a) only to professional repairers if manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives ensure that the following requirements are met:
(a)
after 500 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 83 % of the rated capacity;
(b)
the battery endurance in cycles achieves a minimum of 1 000 full charge cycles and after 1 000 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 80 % of the rated capacity;
(c)
the device meets IP67 rating.
(d)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, the list of spare parts concerned by points (a) and (c) and the procedure for ordering them shall be publicly available on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until the end of the period of availability of these spare parts.
(2) Access to repair and maintenance information
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, at least until 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, provide access to repair and maintenance information to professional repairers for parts covered by points 1(a) and (c) in the following conditions, unless that information is made publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative:
(a)
The manufacturer’s, importer’s or authorised representative’s website shall indicate the process for professional repairers to register for access to information; to accept such a request, the manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may only require the professional repairer to demonstrate that:
(i)
the professional repairer has the technical competence to repair smartphones and complies with the applicable regulations for repairers of electrical equipment in the Member States where it operates. Reference to an official registration system as professional repairer, where such system exists in the Member States concerned, shall be accepted as proof of compliance with this point;
(ii)
the professional repairer is covered by insurance covering liabilities resulting from its activity regardless of whether this is required by the Member State;
(b)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall accept or refuse the registration within 5 working days from the date of request. In the case of refusal, a clear justification will be provided to the requestee outlining the reasons behind such decision, which shall be revoked, if the same professional repairer requests to be registered with updated information, which complies with the conditions for being granted access;
(c)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may charge reasonable and proportionate fees for access to the repair and maintenance information or for receiving regular updates of such information. The registration as such shall be provided for free. A fee shall be considered reasonable in particular if it does not discourage access by failing to take into account the extent to which the professional repairer uses the information;
(d)
Once registered, a professional repairer shall have access, within 1 working day after requesting it, to the requested repair and maintenance information. The information may be provided for an equivalent model or model of the same family, if relevant;
(e)
The repair and maintenance information referred to in point (a) shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by point 1(a) and (c) and shall at least include:
(i)
the unequivocal product identification;
(ii)
a disassembly map or exploded view;
(iii)
wiring and connection diagrams, as required for failure analysis;
(iv)
electronic board diagrams;
(v)
a list of necessary repair and test equipment;
(vi)
technical manual of instructions for repair, including marking of the individual steps;
(vii)
diagnostic fault and error information (including manufacturer-specific codes, where applicable);
(viii)
component and diagnosis information (such as minimum and maximum theoretical values for measurements);
(ix)
instructions for software and firmware (including reset software);
(x)
information on how to access data records of reported failure incidents stored on the device, where applicable, with theexception of personal identifiable information such as related to user behavior and location information;
(xi)
information on how to access professional repair, including the internet webpages, addresses and contact details of professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2 (a) and (b);
(f)
Without prejudice to intellectual property rights, third parties shall be allowed to use and publish unaltered repair and maintenance information initially published by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative and covered by point (e) once the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative terminates access to that information after the end of the period of access to repair and maintenance information.
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, repair instructions and maintenance information for parts concerned by point 1(c) shall be publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market. This information shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by point 1(c).
(3) Maximum delivery time of spare parts
(a)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that:
(i)
during the first 5 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), spare parts are delivered within 5 working days after having received the order;
(ii)
during the remaining 2 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), spare parts are delivered within 10 working days after having received the order;
(b)
In the case of spare parts concerned by point 1(a), the availability of spare parts may be limited to professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2 (a) and (b).
(4) Information on the price of spare parts
During the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide indicative pre-tax prices at least in euro for spare parts listed in points 1(a) and (c), including the pre-tax price of fasteners and tools, if supplied with the spare part, on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative.
(5) Disassembly requirements
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall meet the following disassembly requirements:
(a)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for replacement of the display assembly and of parts referred to in point 1(a), with the exception of the battery or batteries, meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible in at least one of the following ways:
—
with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
with commercially available tools.
(iii)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out in a workshop environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out by a generalist.
(b)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for replacement of parts referred to in point 1(c), with the exception of the battery or batteries, meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
(iii)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a use environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.
(c)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for battery replacement:
(i)
meets the following criteria:
—
fasteners shall be resupplied or reusable;
—
the process for replacement shall be feasible with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a use environment;
—
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.
(ii)
or, as an alternative to point (i), ensure that
—
the process for battery replacement meets the criteria set out in (a);
—
after 500 full charge cycles the battery must have in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 83 % of the rated capacity;
—
the battery endurance in cycles achieves a minimum of 1 000 full charge cycles, and after 1 000 full charge cycles the battery must, in addition, have in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 80 % of the rated capacity;
—
the device is at least dust tight and protected against immersion in water up to one meter depth for a minimum of 30 minutes.
(6) Requirements for preparation for reuse
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that devices:
(a)
encrypt by default, using a random encryption key, the user data stored in the internal storage of the device;
(b)
include a software function, that resets the device to its factory settings and erases securely by default the encryption key and generates a new one;
(c)
record the following data from the battery management system in the system settings or another location accessible for end-users:
(i)
date of manufacturing of the battery;
(ii)
date of first use of the battery after the set-up of the device by the first user;
(iii)
number of full charge/discharge cycles (reference: rated capacity);
(iv)
measured state of health (remaining full charge capacity relative to the rated capacity in %).
(7) Replacement of serialised parts
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, at least until 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market:
(a)
In case the parts to be replaced by spare parts referred to in point 1(a) are serialised parts, provide non-discriminatory access for professional repairers to any software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means needed to ensure the full functionality of those spare parts and of the device in which such spare parts are installed during and after the replacement;
(b)
In case the parts to be replaced by spare parts referred to in point 1(c) are serialised parts, provide non-discriminatory access for professional repairers and end-users to any software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means needed to ensure the full functionality of those spare parts and of the device in which such spare parts are installed during and after the replacement;
(c)
Provide, on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, a description of the procedure for the notification and authorisation of the intended replacement of serialised parts by the owner of the device referred to in point (d); the procedure shall allow for remotely providing the notification and authorisation;
(d)
Before providing access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in points (a) and (b), the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative may only require to have received a notification and authorisation of the intended part replacement by the owner of the device. Such notification and authorisation may also be provided by a professional repairer with the explicit written consent of the owner;
(e)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in points (a) and (b) within 3 working days after having received the request and, where applicable, the notification and authorisation referred to in point (d);
(f)
The access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in point (a) may, as regards professional repairers, be limited to professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2(a) and (b).
1.2. Design for reliability
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Resistance to accidental drops: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices pass 45 falls without any protective foil or separate protective cover, except for foldable smartphones designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display, without loss of functionality, following the test procedure set out in Annex III; foldable smartphones designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display shall pass 35 falls in the un-extended state and 15 falls in the extended state, without loss of functionality, following the test procedure set out in Annex III and tested with the protective foil.
(2)
Scratch resistance: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the screen of the device passes the hardness level 4 on the Mohs hardness scale, except for foldable smartphones designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display.
(3)
Protection from dust and water: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices are protected against the ingress of solid foreign objects of size bigger than 1 millimeter and splashing of water.
(4)
Battery endurance in cycles: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices achieve at least 800 cycles at 80 % remaining capacity, to be tested under charging conditions where the charging rate is limited by the battery management system and not by the power delivery capabilities of the power supply.
(5)
Battery management:
(i)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall include an optional charging feature selectable by the user which terminates the charging process automatically, when the battery is charged to 80 % of its full capacity. When this feature is enabled, manufacturers, importers, or authorised representatives may enable the device to periodically fully charge the battery for the purposes of maintaining accurate battery state of charge estimates. The user shall be informed automatically when charging the device for the first time or during the installation process, that the life span of the battery can be extended if the feature is selected and the battery is regularly charged only to 80 % of its full capacity;
(ii)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide a power management feature which by default ensures that once the battery is fully charged there is no further charging power supplied to the battery unless the charge level drops below 95 % of its maximum charge capacity.
(6)
Operating system updates:
(a)
from the date of end of placement on the market to at least 5 years after that date, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, if they provide security updates, corrective updates or functionality updates to an operating system, make such updates available at no cost for all units of a product model with the same operating system;
(b)
the requirement referred to in point (a) shall apply both to operating system updates offered voluntarily by manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives and to operating system updates provided to comply with Union law;
(c)
security updates or corrective updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 4 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;
(d)
functionality updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 6 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;
(e)
an operating system update may combine security, corrective and functionality updates;
(f)
when a functionality update provided by a manufacturer, importer or authorised representative shows a negative impact on device performance, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall modify the released operating system to ensure at least the same performance as before the update within a reasonable period of time, free of charge and without causing significant inconvenience to the end-user, except if the end-user has given explicit consent for the negative impact prior to the update.
1.3. Marking of plastic components
From 20 June 2025, plastic components heavier than 50 g shall be marked by specifying the type of polymer with the appropriate standard symbols or abbreviated terms set between the punctuation marks ‘>’ and ‘<’ as specified in available standards. The marking shall be legible.
Plastic components shall be exempt from marking requirements provided the following conditions are fulfilled:
(i)
the marking is not possible because of the shape or size;
(ii)
the marking would impact on the performance or functionality of the plastic component;
(iii)
marking is technically not possible because of the molding method.
For the following plastic components no marking shall be required:
(i)
packaging, tape, labels and stretch wraps;
(ii)
wiring, cables and connectors, rubber parts and any other component where not enough appropriate surface area is available for the marking to be of a legible size;
(iii)
PCB assemblies, PMMA boards, optical components, electrostatic discharge components, electromagnetic interference components, speakers;
(iv)
transparent parts where the marking would obstruct the function of the part in question.
1.4. Recyclability requirements
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or their authorised representatives shall, without prejudice to Article 15(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU, make available, on a free access website, the dismantling information needed to access any of the products components referred to in Annex VII, point 1, of Directive 2012/19/EU.
(2)
The information referred to in point (1) shall include the sequence of dismantling steps, tools or technologies needed to access the targeted components.
(3)
The information referred to in point (1) shall be available until at least 15 years after the placing on the market of the last unit of a product model.
2. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide in the technical documentation and make publicly available on free access websites of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative the following information:
(a)
compatibility with removable memory cards, if any;
(b)
indicative weight range of the following critical raw materials and environmentally relevant materials:
(i)
cobalt in the battery (weight range: less than 2 g, between 2 g and 10 g, above 10 g);
(ii)
tantalum in capacitors (weight range: less than 0,01 g, between 0,01 g and 0,1 g, above 0,1 g);
(iii)
neodymium in loud speakers, vibration motors, and other magnets (weight range: less than 0,05 g, between 0,05 g and 0,2 g, above 0,2 g);
(iv)
gold in all components (weight range: less than 0,02 g, between 0,02 g and 0,05 g, above 0,05 g).
(c)
the indicative value of the recyclability rate R cyc ;
(d)
the indicative percentage of recycled content for the product or a part thereof, where available; if not available, the recycled content should be indicated as “not known” or “not available”;
(e)
ingress protection rating;
(f)
minimum battery endurance in cycles in number of cycles;
(g)
in case of foldable devices, it shall be indicated that ‘This device did not undergo a scratch resistance test’.
(2)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide user instructions in the form of a user manual on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, and shall include:
(a)
how to access on the device information from the battery management system on:
(i)
date of manufacturing of the battery;
(ii)
date of first use of the battery after the set-up of the device by the first user;
(iii)
number of full charge/discharge cycles (reference: rated capacity);
(iv)
measured state of health (remaining full charge capacity relative to the rated capacity in %).
(b)
instructions for battery maintenance, including the following:
(i)
impacts on battery lifetime related to exposure of the device to elevated temperatures, suboptimal charging patterns, fast charging and other known adverse factors;
(ii)
effects of switching off radio connections, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, on power consumption;
(iii)
information about whether the device supports other features, which extend battery lifetime, such as smart charging and about how these features are activated or under which conditions they work best.
(3)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that:
(a)
Information that data encryption is enabled by default is displayed to the user in the course of configuring a new device, including an explanation that this eases data erasure through factory reset.
(b)
If wireless charging is selected, a message notifying the user that wireless charging will likely increase the energy use in the charging of the battery.
(4)
Where the package does not include a charger, the user instructions referred to in point 2 shall include the following information: “For environmental reasons this package does not include a charger. This device can be powered with most USB power adapters and a cable with USB Type-C plug.”.
C. CORDLESS PHONES
1. LOW POWER MODES
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that cordless phones meet the following requirements:
(1)
the networked standby power consumption Pn of a base station shipped with a cordless phone shall not exceed 1 W, regardless of whether a handset is on the base station;
(2)
the standby power consumption Pn of a charging cradle without base station functionality shipped with a cordless phone shall not exceed 0,6 W with the charged handset on the charging cradle and 0,3 W without the handset on the charging cradle.
2. RESOURCE EFFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS
2.1. Design for repair and reuse
(1) Availability of spare parts
(a)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers at least the following spare parts, including required fasteners, if not reusable, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, when present:
(i)
display assembly;
(ii)
external audio connector(s);
(iii)
external charging port(s);
(iv)
mechanical button(s);
(v)
main microphone(s);
(vi)
speaker(s);
(b)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers and end-users at least the following spare parts, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market:
(i)
battery or batteries;
(ii)
battery compartment cover;
(iii)
charger unless the basestation is equipped with the USB Type-C receptacle, which should remain accessible and operational at all times;
(iv)
charging cradle;
(c)
Spare parts concerned by points (a) and (b) shall not be assemblies comprising more than one of the listed spare part types;
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, the list of spare parts concerned by points (a) and (b) and the procedure for ordering them shall be publicly available on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until the end of the period of availability of these spare parts.
Cordless phones shall be designed for the use of rechargeable batteries with standardised physical dimensions.
(2) Access to repair and maintenance information
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, at least until 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, provide access to repair and maintenance information to professional repairers for parts covered by points 1(a) and (b) in the following conditions, unless that information is made publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative:
(a)
The manufacturer’s, importer’s or authorised representative’s website shall indicate the process for professional repairers to register for access to information; to accept such a request, the manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may only require the professional repairer to demonstrate that:
(i)
the professional repairer has the technical competence to repair cordless phones and complies with the applicable regulations for repairers of electrical equipment in the Member States where it operates. Reference to an official registration system as professional repairer, where such system exists in the Member States concerned, shall be accepted as proof of compliance with this point;
(ii)
the professional repairer is covered by insurance covering liabilities resulting from its activity regardless of whether this is required by the Member State.
(b)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall accept or refuse the registration within 5 working days from the date of request. In the case of refusal, a clear justification will be provided to the requestee outlining the reasons behind such decision, which shall be revoked, if the same professional repairer requests to be registered with updated information, which complies with the conditions for being granted access;
(c)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may charge reasonable and proportionate fees for access to the repair and maintenance information or for receiving regular updates of such information. The registration as such shall be provided for free. A fee shall be considered reasonable in particular if it does not discourage access by failing to take into account the extent to which the professional repairer uses the information;
(d)
Once registered, a professional repairer shall have access, within 1 working day after requesting it, to the requested repair and maintenance information. The information may be provided for an equivalent model or model of the same family, if relevant;
(e)
The repair and maintenance information referred to in point (a) shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by points 1(a) and (b) and shall at least include:
(i)
the unequivocal product identification;
(ii)
a disassembly map or exploded view;
(iii)
wiring and connection diagrams, as required for failure analysis;
(iv)
electronic board diagrams;
(v)
a list of necessary repair and test equipment;
(vi)
technical manual of instructions for repair, including marking of the individual steps;
(vii)
diagnostic fault and error information (including manufacturer-specific codes, where applicable);
(viii)
component and diagnosis information (such as minimum and maximum theoretical values for measurements);
(ix)
instructions for software and firmware (including reset software);
(x)
information on how to access data records of reported failure incidents stored on the device, where applicable, with theexception of personal identifiable information such as related to user behavior and location information;
(xi)
information on how to access professional repair, including the internet webpages, addresses and contact details of professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2 (a) and (b).
(f)
Without prejudice to intellectual property rights, third parties shall be allowed to use and publish unaltered repair and maintenance information initially published by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative and covered by point (e) once the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative terminates access to that information after the end of the period of access to repair and maintenance information.
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, repair instructions and maintenance information for parts concerned by point 1(b) shall be publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market. This information shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by point 1(b).
(3) Maximum delivery time of spare parts
(a)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that:
(i)
during the first 5 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (b), spare parts are delivered within 5 working days after having received the order;
(ii)
during the remaining 2 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (b), spare parts are delivered within 10 working days after having received the order.
(b)
In the case of spare parts concerned by point 1(a), the availability of spare parts may be limited to professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2 (a) and (b).
(4) Information on the price of spare parts
During the period referred to in points 1(a) and (b), manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide indicative pre-tax prices at least in euro for spare parts listed in points 1(a) and (b), including the pre-tax price of fasteners and tools, if supplied with the spare part, on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative.
(5) Disassembly requirements
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall meet the following disassembly requirements:
(a)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for replacement of parts referred to in point 1(a) meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable or resupplied;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible in at least one of the following ways:
—
with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
with commercially available tools;
(iii)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out in a workshop environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out by a generalist.
(b)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for battery replacement meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be reusable or resupplied;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
(iii)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a use environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.
(c)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for display assembly replacement meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible in at least one of the following ways:
—
with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
with commercially available tools;
(iii)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a workshop environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a generalist.
(6) Requirements for preparation for reuse
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that devices include a software function, that resets the device to its factory settings and erases securely by default all personal information including but not limited to address book, text messages, pictures, videos, settings and call history.
2.2. Marking of plastic components
From 20 June 2025, plastic components heavier than 50 g shall be marked by specifying the type of polymer with the appropriate standard symbols or abbreviated terms set between the punctuation marks ‘>’ and ‘<’ as specified in available standards. The marking shall be legible.
Plastic components shall be exempt from marking requirements provided the following conditions are fulfilled:
(i)
the marking is not possible because of the shape or size;
(ii)
the marking would impact on the performance or functionality of the plastic component;
(iii)
marking is technically not possible because of the molding method.
For the following plastic components no marking shall be required:
(i)
packaging, tape, labels and stretch wraps;
(ii)
wiring, cables and connectors, rubber parts and any other component where not enough appropriate surface area is available for the marking to be of a legible size;
(iii)
PCB assemblies, PMMA boards, optical components, electrostatic discharge components, electromagnetic interference components, speakers;
(iv)
transparent parts where the marking would obstruct the function of the part in question.
2.3. Recyclability requirements
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or their authorised representatives shall, without prejudice to Article 15(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU, make available, on a free access website, the dismantling information needed to access any of the products components referred to in Annex VII, point 1, of Directive 2012/19/EU.
(2)
The information referred to in point (1) shall include the sequence of dismantling steps, tools or technologies needed to access the targeted components.
(3)
The information referred to in point (1) shall be available until at least 15 years after the placing on the market of the last unit of a product model.
3. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide in the technical documentation and make publicly available on free access websites of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative the following information:
(a)
compatibility with removable memory cards, if any;
(b)
indicative weight range of the following critical raw materials and environmentally relevant materials:
(i)
cobalt in the battery (weight range: less than 0,5 g, between 0,5 g and 3 g, above 3 g);
(ii)
tantalum in capacitors (weight range: less than 0,01 g, between 0,01 g and 0,2 g, above 0,2 g);
(iii)
neodymium in loud speakers, vibration motors, and other magnets (weight range: less than 0,1 g, between 0,1 g and 0,5 g, above 0,5 g);
(iv)
gold in all components (weight range: less than 0,02 g, between 0,02 g and 0,1 g, above 0,1 g);
(c)
the indicative value of the recyclability rate R cyc ;
(d)
the indicative percentage of recycled content for the product or a part thereof, where available; if not available, the recycled content should be indicated as “not known” or “not available”;
(2)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide user instructions in the form of a user manual on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative. Where the package does not include a charger, the user instructions shall include the following information: “For environmental reasons this package does not include a charger. This device can be powered with most USB power adapters and a cable with USB Type-C plug.”.
D. SLATE TABLETS
1. RESOURCE EFFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS
1.1. Design for repair and reuse
(1) Availability of spare parts
(a)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers at least the following spare parts, including required fasteners, if not reusable, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, when present:
(i)
battery or batteries;
(ii)
front-facing camera assembly;
(iii)
rear-facing camera assembly;
(iv)
external audio connector(s);
(v)
external charging port(s);
(vi)
mechanical button(s);
(vii)
main microphone(s);
(viii)
speaker(s);
(ix)
hinge assembly;
(x)
mechanical display folding mechanism.
(b)
Spare parts concerned by points (a) and (c) shall not be assemblies comprising more than one of the listed spare part types, with the following exceptions:
(i)
microphones may be part of a loudspeaker or external charging port assembly;
(ii)
external audio connector(s) may be combined with the external charging port(s) as the same port(s);
(iii)
external charging port(s) may be combined with the external audio connector(s) as the same port(s);
(iv)
hinge assembly may be part of a mechanical display folding mechanism;
(v)
microphone, speaker(s), buttons and external connectors may be combined with a higher level assembly if the following reliability requirements are met:
—
the device meets IP42 rating;
—
the power button has a contact closure cycle resistance ≥20 000 cycles;
—
the volume button has a contact closure cycle resistance ≥10 000 cycles;
—
the charging connector has a insertion/extraction cycle resistance ≥3 000 cycles.
(c)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later:
(i)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall make available to professional repairers and end-users at least the following spare parts, including required fasteners, if not reusable, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market:
(a)
battery or batteries;
(b)
back cover or back cover assembly, if to be fully removed for replacement of the battery;
(c)
protective foil for foldable displays;
(d)
display assembly;
(e)
charger, unless the device complies with Article 3(4) of Directive 2014/53/EU;
(f)
SIM tray and memory card tray, if there is an external slot for a SIM tray or memory card tray.
(ii)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may provide the battery or batteries referred to in point (i)(a) only to professional repairers if manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives ensure that the following requirements are met:
(a)
the device meets IP42 rating;
(b)
after 500 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 83 % of the rated capacity;
(c)
the battery endurance in cycles achieves a minimum of 1 000 full charge cycles and after 1 000 full charge cycles the battery has, in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 80 % of the rated capacity.
(d)
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, the list of spare parts concerned by points (a) and (c) and the procedure for ordering them shall be publicly available on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until the end of the period of availability of these spare parts.
(2) Access to repair and maintenance information
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, at least until 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market, provide access to repair and maintenance information to professional repairers for parts covered by points 1(a) and (c) in the following conditions, unless that information is made publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative:
(a)
The manufacturer’s, importer’s or authorised representative’s website shall indicate the process for professional repairers to register for access to information; to accept such a request, the manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may only require the professional repairer to demonstrate that:
(i)
the professional repairer has the technical competence to repair slate tablets and complies with the applicable regulations for repairers of electrical equipment in the Member States where it operates. Reference to an official registration system as professional repairer, where such system exists in the Member States concerned, shall be accepted as proof of compliance with this point;
(ii)
the professional repairer is covered by insurance covering liabilities resulting from its activity regardless of whether this is required by the Member State;
(b)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall accept or refuse the registration within 5 working days from the date of request. In the case of refusal, a clear justification will be provided to the requestee outlining the reasons behind such decision, which shall be revoked, if the same professional repairer requests to be registered with updated information, which complies with the conditions for being granted access;
(c)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives may charge reasonable and proportionate fees for access to the repair and maintenance information or for receiving regular updates of such information. The registration as such shall be provided for free. A fee shall be considered reasonable in particular if it does not discourage access by failing to take into account the extent to which the professional repairer uses the information;
(d)
Once registered, a professional repairer shall have access, within 1 working day after requesting it, to the requested repair and maintenance information. The information may be provided for an equivalent model or model of the same family, if relevant;
(e)
The repair and maintenance information referred to in point (a) shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by point 1(a) and (c) and shall at least include:
(i)
the unequivocal product identification;
(ii)
a disassembly map or exploded view;
(iii)
wiring and connection diagrams, as required for failure analysis;
(iv)
electronic board diagrams;
(v)
a list of necessary repair and test equipment;
(vi)
technical manual of instructions for repair, including marking of the individual steps;
(vii)
diagnostic fault and error information (including manufacturer-specific codes, where applicable);
(viii)
component and diagnosis information (such as minimum and maximum theoretical values for measurements);
(ix)
instructions for software and firmware (including reset software);
(x)
information on how to access data records of reported failure incidents stored on the device, where applicable, with the exception of personal identifiable information such as related to user behavior and location information;
(xi)
information on how to access professional repair, including the internet webpages, addresses and contact details of professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2(a) and (b);
(f)
Without prejudice to intellectual property rights, third parties shall be allowed to use and publish unaltered repair and maintenance information initially published by the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative and covered by point (e) once the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative terminates access to that information after the end of the period of access to repair and maintenance information.
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, repair instructions and maintenance information for parts concerned by point 1(c) shall be publicly available at the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, until at least 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market. This information shall contain the level of detail needed to be able to replace parts covered by point 1(c).
(3) Maximum delivery time of spare parts
(a)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that:
(i)
during the first 5 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), spare parts are delivered within 5 working days after having received the order;
(ii)
during the remaining 2 years of the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), spare parts are delivered within 10 working days after having received the order.
(b)
In the case of spare parts concerned by point 1(a), the availability of spare parts may be limited to professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2(a) and (b).
(4) Information on the price of spare parts
During the period referred to in points 1(a) and (c), manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide indicative pre-tax prices at least in euro for spare parts listed in points 1(a) and (c), including the pre-tax price of fasteners and tools, if supplied with the spare part, on the free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative.
(5) Disassembly requirements
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall meet the following disassembly requirements:
(a)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for replacement of the display assembly and of parts referred to in point 1(a), with the exception of the battery or batteries, meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible in at least one of the following ways:
—
with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
with commercially available tools;
(iii)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out in a workshop environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall, as a minimum, be able to be carried out by a generalist.
(b)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for replacement of parts referred to in point 1(c), with the exception of the battery or batteries, meets the following criteria:
(i)
fasteners shall be removable, resupplied or reusable;
(ii)
the process for replacement shall be feasible with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
(iii)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a use environment;
(iv)
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.
(c)
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the process for battery replacement:
(i)
meets the following criteria:
—
fasteners shall be resupplied or reusable;
—
the process for replacement shall be feasible with no tool, a tool or set of tools that is supplied with the product or spare part, or basic tools;
—
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out in a use environment;
—
the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.
(ii)
or, as an alternative to point (i), ensure that
—
the process for battery replacement meets the criteria set out in (a);
—
the device meets IP42 rating;
—
after 500 full charge cycles the battery must have in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 83 % of the rated capacity;
—
the battery endurance in cycles achieves a minimum of 1 000 full charge cycles, and after 1 000 full charge cycles the battery must, in addition, have in a fully charged state, a remaining capacity of at least 80 % of the rated capacity.
(6) Requirements for preparation for reuse
From 20 June 2025, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that devices:
(a)
encrypt by default, using a random encryption key, the user data stored in the internal storage of the device;
(b)
include a software function, that resets the device to its factory settings and erases securely by default the encryption key and generates a new one;
(c)
record the following data from the battery management system in the system settings or another location accessible for end-users:
(i)
date of manufacturing of the battery;
(ii)
date of first use of the battery after the set-up of the device by the first user;
(iii)
number of full charge/discharge cycles (reference: rated capacity);
(iv)
measured state of health (remaining full charge capacity relative to the rated capacity in %).
(7) Replacement of serialised parts
From 20 June 2025 or from one month after the date of placement on the market, whichever is later, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, at least until 7 years after the date of end of placement on the market:
(a)
In case the parts to be replaced by spare parts referred to in point 1(a) are serialised parts, provide non-discriminatory access for professional repairers to any software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means needed to ensure the full functionality of those spare parts and of the device in which such spare parts are installed during and after the replacement;
(b)
In case the parts to be replaced by spare parts referred to in point 1(c) are serialised parts, provide non-discriminatory access for professional repairers and end-users to any software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means needed to ensure the full functionality of those spare parts and of the device in which such spare parts are installed during and after the replacement;
(c)
Provide, on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, a description of the procedure for the notification and authorisation of the intended replacement of serialised parts by the owner of the device referred to in point (d); the procedure shall allow for remotely providing the notification and authorisation;
(d)
Before providing access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in points (a) and (b), the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative may only require to have received a notification and authorisation of the intended part replacement by the owner of the device. Such notification and authorisation may also be provided by a professional repairer with the explicit written consent of the owner;
(e)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in points (a) and (b) within 3 working days after having received the request and, where applicable, the notification and authorisation referred to in point (d);
(f)
The access to the software tools, firmware or similar auxiliary means referred to in point (a) may, as regards professional repairers, be limited to professional repairers registered in accordance with points 2(a) and (b).
1.2. Design for reliability
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Scratch resistance: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the screen of the device passes the hardness level 4 on the Mohs hardness scale, except for foldable slate tablets designed to be used with a protective foil on the foldable display.
(2)
Protection from accidental spills: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices are protected against accidental spills of water.
(3)
Battery endurance in cycles: Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that the devices achieve at least 800 cycles at 80 % remaining capacity, to be tested under charging conditions where the charging rate is limited by the battery management system and not by the power delivery capabilities of the power supply.
(4)
Battery management:
(i)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall include an optional charging feature selectable by the user which terminates the charging process automatically, when the battery is charged to 80 % of its full capacity. When this feature is enabled, manufacturers, importers, or authorised representatives may enable the device to periodically fully charge the battery for the purposes of maintaining accurate battery state of charge estimates. The user shall be informed automatically when charging the device for the first time or during the installation process, that the life span of the battery can be extended if the feature is selected and the battery is regularly charged only to 80 % of its full capacity;
(ii)
manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide a power management feature which by default ensures that once the battery is fully charged there is no further charging power supplied to the battery unless the charge level drops below 95 % of its maximum charge capacity.
(5)
Operating system updates:
(a)
from the date of end of placement on the market to at least 5 years after that date, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall, if they provide security updates, corrective updates or functionality updates to an operating system, make such updates available at no cost for all units of a product model with the same operating system;
(b)
the requirement referred to in point (a) shall apply both to operating system updates offered voluntarily by manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives and to operating system updates provided to comply with Union law;
(c)
security updates or corrective updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 4 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;
(d)
functionality updates mentioned under point (a) need to be available to the user at the latest 6 months after the public release of the source code of an update of the underlying operating system or, if the source code is not publicly released, after an update of the same operating system is released by the operating system provider or on any other product of the same brand;
(e)
an operating system update may combine security, corrective and functionality updates;
(f)
when a functionality update provided by a manufacturer, importer or authorised representative shows a negative impact on device performance, manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall modify the released operating system to ensure at least the same performance as before the update within a reasonable period of time, free of charge and without causing significant inconvenience to the end-user, except if the end-user has given explicit consent for the negative impact prior to the update.
1.3. Marking of plastic components
From 20 June 2025, plastic components heavier than 50 g shall be marked by specifying the type of polymer with the appropriate standard symbols or abbreviated terms set between the punctuation marks ‘>’ and ‘<’ as specified in available standards. The marking shall be legible.
Plastic components shall be exempt from marking requirements provided the following conditions are fulfilled:
(i)
the marking is not possible because of the shape or size;
(ii)
the marking would impact on the performance or functionality of the plastic component;
(iii)
marking is technically not possible because of the molding method.
For the following plastic components no marking shall be required:
(i)
packaging, tape, labels and stretch wraps;
(ii)
wiring, cables and connectors, rubber parts and any other component where not enough appropriate surface area is available for the marking to be of a legible size;
(iii)
PCB assemblies, PMMA boards, optical components, electrostatic discharge components, electromagnetic interference components, speakers;
(iv)
transparent parts where the marking would obstruct the function of the part in question.
1.4. Recyclability requirements
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or their authorised representatives shall, without prejudice to Article 15(1) of Directive 2012/19/EU, make available, on a free access website, the dismantling information needed to access any of the products components referred to in Annex VII, point 1, of Directive 2012/19/EU.
(2)
The information referred to in point (1) shall include the sequence of dismantling steps, tools or technologies needed to access the targeted components.
(3)
The information referred to in point (1) shall be available until at least 15 years after the placing on the market of the last unit of a product model.
2. INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
From 20 June 2025:
(1)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide in the technical documentation and make publicly available on free access websites of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative the following information:
(a)
compatibility with removable memory cards, if any;
(b)
indicative weight range of the following critical raw materials and environmentally relevant materials:
(i)
cobalt in the battery (weight range: less than 10 g, between 10 g and 20 g, above 20 g);
(ii)
tantalum in capacitors (weight range: less than 0,01 g, between 0,01 g and 0,1 g, above 0,1 g);
(iii)
neodymium in loud speakers, vibration motors, and other magnets (weight range: less than 0,2 g, between 0,2 g and 1 g, above 1 g);
(iv)
gold in all components (weight range: less than 0,02 g, between 0,02 g and 0,1 g, above 0,1 g);
(c)
the indicative value of the recyclability rate R cyc ;
(d)
the indicative percentage of recycled content for the product or a part thereof, where available; if not available, the recycled content should be indicated as “not known” or “not available”;
(e)
ingress protection rating;
(f)
minimum battery endurance in cycles in number of cycles;
(g)
in case of foldable devices, it shall be indicated that ‘This device did not undergo a scratch resistance test’.
(2)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall provide user instructions in the form of a user manual on a free access website of the manufacturer, importer or authorised representative, and shall include:
(a)
how to access on the device information from the battery management system on:
(i)
date of manufacturing of the battery;
(ii)
date of first use of the battery after the set-up of the device by the first user;
(iii)
number of full charge/discharge cycles (reference: rated capacity);
(iv)
measured state of health (remaining full charge capacity relative to the rated capacity in %);
(b)
instructions for battery maintenance, including the following:
(i)
impacts on battery lifetime related to exposure of the device to elevated temperatures, suboptimal charging patterns, fast charging and other known adverse factors;
(ii)
effects of switching off radio connections, such as WiFi, Bluetooth, on power consumption;
(iii)
information about whether the device supports other features, which extend battery lifetime, such as smart charging and about how these features are activated or under which conditions they work best.
(3)
Manufacturers, importers or authorised representatives shall ensure that:
(a)
Information that data encryption is enabled by default is displayed to the user in the course of configuring a new device, including an explanation that this eases data erasure through factory reset;
(b)
If wireless charging is selected, a message notifying the user that wireless charging will likely increase the energy use in the charging of the battery.
(4)
Where the package does not include a charger, the user instructions referred to in point 2 shall include the following information: “For environmental reasons this package does not include a charger. This device can be powered with most USB power adapters and a cable with USB Type-C plug.”.
( 1 ) Directive 2014/53/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of radio equipment and repealing Directive 1999/5/EC ( OJ L 153, 22.5.2014, p. 62 ).
( 2 ) Directive 2012/19/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) ( OJ L 197, 24.7.2012, p. 38 ).