this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
969 points (99.9% liked)

Europe

5583 readers
1633 users here now

News and information from Europe 🇪🇺

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in !yurop@lemm.ee. (They're cool, you should subscribe there too!)
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to any of the mods: @federalreverse@feddit.org, @poVoq@slrpnk.net, or @anzo@programming.dev.

founded 9 months ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] falkerie71@sh.itjust.works 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

As much as I love this, I fail to see how this would be able to be written into law. It's basically gov mandated warranty period. If the goal is to have manufacturers make products that last, how long is long enough? What's to say that they do the same thing and design products that fail right after warranty ends? Who decides if there is foul play in designing faulty products and how? Unless the gov makes their own product that lasts for 20 years and tells every other company to use this as a baseline otherwise get fined, I don't know how they would be able to enforce this.

I just think this is a big gray area and it would be hard to make this cut and clear. The only thing I think they could do for now is to have companies provide repair manuals and provide parts for a set amount of years after product launch, and repairs should be able to be made by customers themselves without needing to go through 1st party verification like Apple requires with their phones.

[–] AllPintsNorth@lemm.ee 6 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Think you answered your own question there.

Mandated warranty periods. Pretty straight forward.

And they currently engineer product to have things fail right after their warranty expires, so, that’s not really a concern, since we’re already living with the that.

[–] falkerie71@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

And they currently engineer product to have things fail right after their warranty expires, so, that’s not really a concern, since we’re already living with the that.

Which is exactly my point of why mandated warranty period does not really fix the core of the problem, which is intentionally making products not last. It's just a bandaid solution (Yes I know a solution is still better than nothing, and may be the first step to address this issue). What I want to see is prolonging the life of a product by letting consumers freely fix their own stuff (parts, schematics, etc.) without the manufacturer locking things down, even after the warranty expires.

[–] AllPintsNorth@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago

Let’s not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Mandated warranty minimums and right to repair regulations are not mutually exclusive. We can do both, even if we don’t do them at the same time.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Samsung: god damnit, now we have to use the $0.30 washer instead of the $0.29 washer and itll last at least 10 years longer!

That's 10s of millions in extra sales lost!

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Oh look! So much progress is being made since USA embargoed itself!

[–] biofaust@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know this is a joke, but it is important to point out for others that such policies get years to be designed, discussed and published in the EU.

[–] ZMoney@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

And this law came into effect last July

[–] Elchi@feddit.org 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The spirit is willing, but the machine is spongy and bruised.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Bullshit. My aunt has a washing machine with all knobs and switches that's probably 30+ years old and it still works fine.

They need to stop putting all these digital components into washing machines or make the boards standardized so they can be easily swapped out. These aren't laptops that you toss after 3-5 years. Appliances should last 10-20 years.

[–] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Laptops should last longer than 3-5 years too. It should go without saying, but this is the internet.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Agreed but in most larger businesses swap out the laptops around 3-5 years.

Consumers use laptop 5-10+ until they die.

[–] kunaltyagi@programming.dev 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Framework like modular laptop would fix this. Need a new screen? No problem. Need a new processor? No problem.

Upgrade whatever is outdated and just that

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours ago

Yeah but imagine if we had a laptop motherboard standard like desktops.

Instead of ATX it would be something like MLF - Modular Laptop Framework

Where there would be some board standard for laptop boards.

Then you get screen ribbon standards, keyboard ribbon standards, etc.

This would allow one to order a laptop case with screen, keyboard and touchpad. But you can pick your board, cpu, ram.

I know some companies have done GPU upgrades but how nice would it be to upgrade your 4 year old $3k laptop's GPU?

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 57 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (8 children)

Imagine, government of the people, by the people, and for the people - that's crazy SoCiAlIsM talk!

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] KulunkelBoom@lemm.ee 57 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Back to the good old days when products were of higher quality. What a concept.

[–] Digestive_Biscuit@feddit.uk 1 points 13 hours ago

We have a Bosch washing machine we bought second hand 15 years ago for £50. It's basic, not digital, but has all the functions we need. We've never had a problem with it. It will break one day but I'm hoping it lasts a lot longer still.

[–] pheet@sopuli.xyz 14 points 1 day ago

And to a world where repairing is both possible and feasible.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (6 children)

I've heard this from service techs who have worked on my refrigerator and dishwasher - major appliances in America last a third as long as they did 10 or 15 years ago.

[–] Bosht@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I can tell you from firsthand experience it's even worse than that. I had a washer that lasted me damn near 20 years that was made in the 90s. Finally decided to get a new set from Samsung. Made it just past warranty, or basically 1 year. The repair would have cost as much as the washer was new. Similar experience with an LG fridge. Bought it and the ice machine broke in it, TWICE, within the first year. Fuck these brands and their established hold on the market.

And that's nothing. You know how they're pushing for washing machines, dishwashers, etc. to be internet connected? Currently they're forcing this for data mining purposes. But I have no doubt their real goal is to eventually make these devices like printers, with expensive consumables locked in by internet-connected DRM. They've already gotten people used to using dish and clothes detergent pods. How long until they're putting everything in plastic cartridges, locking things down with DRM, and charging like printer companies do?

[–] KulunkelBoom@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

they are truly junk. the only goal of American industry, it seems, is to make more money than ever.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 45 points 2 days ago (14 children)

Now, this is the trading standards that we all ask for; not "be more racist" or repeal the protection on lgbt. Christ, American fascism is the weirdest i have seen. Fascism in the past didn't even try to dictate the laws and regulations of other countries.

[–] Irelephant@lemm.ee 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

"We will stop our tariffs if you accept our diseased, chlorinated chicken"

load more comments (13 replies)
[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 75 points 2 days ago (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 103 points 2 days ago (10 children)

A welcome mandate, especially for electronics. However people are already throwing away so much perfectly fine furniture that I don‘t think it will help much in that regard. A lot of people want something new, not something that just works.

load more comments (10 replies)
[–] pinheadednightmare@lemm.ee 47 points 2 days ago

We really need to stop with this “build to break” mentality for products. Our wastes, as humanity, would significantly lower and reduce wastes…. But hey, we also have to think of the investor's, right?

[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 29 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is a good first step. The next would be to lower the ridiculous amount of electronics in them and remove wifi and telemetry functionality. A dish washer should never have to connect to a server to do its job.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I would like it to come with an open source firmware that I could connect to my locally hosted servers.

I would enjoy mapping out load weights, water and electricity consumption, and cross reference that with a lot of other stuff. Plus some remote controls, and a better interface to choosing washing programs and scheduling start/end...

I just don't want any of that data to leave my house, ever.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 22 points 2 days ago (4 children)

When buying future appliances, I have to be sure to get them from the EU. Standards in the US are going to be below the floor.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Lootboblin@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Electronics in general should last longer, just like back in the day.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›