Right to Repair: A Reflective Facet of Consumer Justice

Abstract

In recent years, consumer electronics marked momentum in consumer durables, but unfortunately repair activities of products suffered setbacks as it relatively involved higher costs due to a lack of repair infrastructure. The study focused on the freedom and rights of consumers to fix their own faulty devices as per the repair manual or to select the service provider of their choice without being mandated by manufacturer’s whims. The research undertaken is methodological in nature and aims to empower consumers through synchronizing trade between manufacturers and third-party sellers and buyers while ensuring sustainability in consumption of products by reducing e-waste with implications for policy-makers, researchers, public in framing strategies sustainable economic development. The survey of 112 respondents identifies the scope and need for the right, which has significant benefits to consumers whereby a plurality of respondents expressed a pragmatic unequivocal perspective towards recognition of a right to repair. The statistical representations reflect the original response collected on a pan-India basis through a survey-based structured questionnaire method. This ensures free and fair trade in prioritizing consumer protection while sketching the need for a discrete piece of legislation on the Right to Repair. The aim of the article is an attempt to identify digital reality along with digital maturity to embrace the consumer’s decision-making process. It intends to prevent unfair trade while promoting free trade and proposing discrete legislation on the Right to Repair so that it may be efficacious for the policy-makers in encompassing the provisions of the right to repair spelled with recognizing and reclaiming consumer protection as well.