C 61/32
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
4.2.2022
26. stresses the need to prioritise reusing or repairing faulty products over discarding them, provided that this does not undermine consumer rights and that the use or repair does not result in the production of lower quality products;
27. emphasises the need to ensure the availability of spare parts, ensuring that products can be repaired and that the cost of these repairs does not deter the consumer from repairs, while respecting consumers’ rights to product conformity and product safety; recommends that the Commission look into measures to make this possible;
28. encourages the Commission to consider, in relation to the revision of the Sale of Goods Directive, how to continue promoting repairs and more sustainable, circular products, while respecting consumer rights and the economic balance between consumers and businesses;
29. stresses the importance of the role played by local and regional authorities in this area and thus the need to promote new consumption patterns and behaviours at local and regional level, such as the sharing economy;
30. recommends supporting business models allowing consumers to buy services rather than goods, by encouraging repairs, social economy organisations’ actions and second-hand markets;
31.
stresses the need for an inventory of local good practices in the field of repair and the circular economy;
32. emphasises the importance of extending the scope of local consumer measures to the service economy, for example with regard to renovating buildings and adapting consumer housing to a greener and more digital society, in particular by enhancing consumer information tools;
33. backs initiatives to support local businesses with a view to improving consumers’ position on the market, protecting the environment and promoting the craft industry;
34.
emphasises the role that local and regional authorities can play in informing and educating consumers;
35.
highlights the importance of effective solutions that consumers can easily understand and implement;
36. supports the Commission’s willingness to cooperate with economic operators in order to encourage them to voluntarily commit to taking action in favour of sustainable consumption that goes beyond legal obligations;
37. highlights the need to expand the Eco-Design Directive to include energy-related products, but also to extend it to a broader range of products with a high environmental impact and to set out measures for waste prevention;
38. strongly supports the publication of the sustainable products initiative, which aims to make such products the norm so as to combat early obsolescence and promote durability;
39. calls for the European Commission, the Member States and local and regional authorities to direct financial incentives from the EU recovery plan towards guaranteeing long-term economic, social and environmental progress while reducing resource use, avoiding and removing hazardous substances and improving circularity of materials and systems;
40. stresses again the urgent need to accelerate the transition towards a regenerative growth model, keeping resource consumption within planetary boundaries and reducing our environmental footprint.
To this end, it is imperative to decouple growth from resource use, to move towards a true circular society and to cooperate at all levels of governance and society;
41. emphasises the need to support SMEs, and local small producers in the green transition without increasing the administrative burden.
EU funds are essential in ensuring these transitions.
Highlights the need to involve local and regional authorities in providing information on available EU funds in the regard;