G/TBT/N/FRA/203  
30 October  2020 
(20-7623) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  French  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.  
 
1. Notifying Member : FRANCE  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible:  
Ministère de la transition écologique et solidaire  (Ministry for the Ecological and 
Inclusive Transition)  
Commissariat au développement durable  (Commission for Sustainable Development)  
Service de l'économie verte et solidaire  (Solidarity and Green Economy Service)  
Tour Sé quoïa  
92055 Paris -La Défense Cedex  
France  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ], 5.7.1 [ ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading . ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable) : This Orde r 
applies to lawnmowers falling within the scope of the Order of 1 7 June 1 987 relating to 
the permissible sound power level of autonomous lawnmowers operating with an electric 
motor ("robot electric lawnmowers").  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document : Arrêté relatif 
aux critères, aux sous -critères et au système de notation pour le calcul et l'affichage de 
l'indice de réparabilité des tondeuses électriques robot  (Order relating to the criteria, sub -
criteria and scoring system fo r calculating and displaying the repairability index of robot 
electric lawnmowers)  
6. Description of content : The repairability index consists of a score out of 10 intended to 
be displayed at the time of purchase to inform consumers of the categories of e lectrical 
and electronic products . This score is obtained by dividing an overall score of 100 points 
by 10 according to five criteria, each scored out of 20 and of equal weight, making it 
possible to assess the repairability of the products concerned . These criteria are as 
follows : documentation provided by the manufacturer, ease of disassembly of the 
product, availability of spare parts, relationship between the price of the most expensive 
spare part and the price of the original product, usage counter (op tional) or other criteria 
specific to the category of products concerned . This Order applies to robot electric 
lawnmowers falling within the scope of the Order of 1 7 June 1 987 relating to the 
permissible sound power level of lawnmowers . It specifies the cr iteria, sub -criteria and 
scoring system applicable to corded electric lawnmowers to calculate the repairability 
index by model.  G/TBT/N/FRA/203  
- 2 - 
  Producers, importers, or other parties placing electrical and electronic equipment on the 
market, including robot electric lawnmowers, shall be required to calculate the index for 
the categories of products concerned, and to make this information available.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable : Directive (EU) 2018/851 on waste encourages Member States to take 
appropriate measures to prevent waste generation . In addition, one of the objectives of 
the European action plan for the circular economy (COM (2020) 98) is to improve the 
durability and repairability of p roducts . The stakeholder consultation held in the context 
of the Roadmap for the circular economy, which was presented by the Government on 2 3 
April 2 018, resulted in measure No. 10, which provides for mandatory information on the 
repairability of electric al and electronic products . The measure aims to promote 
responsible consumption by improving consumer information through the establishment 
and mandatory display of a simple repairability index for some of these products . This 
index aims to inform the cons umer regarding how easy it is to repair the product 
concerned . This measure thus aims on the one hand to compensate for the asymmetry 
of information between consumers and manufacturers or distributors concerning the 
repairability of products and, on the ot her hand, to encourage manufacturers to integrate 
repairability criteria into the design of their products, thus tending towards products that 
are more durable because they are more robust because they are 'eco-designed '. With 
this measure, a reasonable am bition is to reduce breakdowns of electrical and electronic 
products giving rise to repair in the network of French repairers to 60%, within five years, 
as compared to around 40% today . From an environmental standpoint, this measure will 
allow France to pu rsue its national objective of reducing the resource consumption linked 
to French consumption : to reduce resource consumption relative to GDP by 30% 
compared to 2010, by 2030 (Law No 2015 -992). More repairable and therefore more 
durable products will effec tively lead to a reduction in resource consumption (reduction 
in the need for new products), a reduction in the quantity of waste electrical and electronic 
products and an associated reduction in greenhouse gas emissions . The robot electric 
lawnmower categ ory was selected for implementation of the repairability index because 
of the fairly widespread use of these appliances in France, the importance of the category 
in the DIY and gardening tools sector, and the environmental impacts generated by this 
product . 
8. Relevant documents : - 
9. Proposed date of adoption : December 2 020 
Proposed date of entry into force : 1 January 2 021 
10. Final date for comments : 60 days from the date of notification  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available, of other body:  
CINORTECH  
AFNOR  
11 avenue Francis de Pressensé  
93571 SAINT -DENIS - LA PLAINE Cedex  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/FRA/20_6407_00_f.pdf