Taiwan plans to introduce Repairability Index scheme for IT equipment 
On May 26, 2023, the Environmental Protection Administration Executive Yuan of Taiwan (Taiwan EPA) published the plan to introduce the Repairability Index scheme on its homepage. The Repairability Index is introduced to reduce the amount of e-waste by informing customers about the repairability of a product at the time of purchase. The scheme, based on the “Repairability Index” implemented in France, is expected to be introduced on a trial basis for mobile phones and laptops in June this year. About 20 mobile phones and laptops manufacturers attended the briefing held on May 26, 2023, including Apple, Samsung, ASUS and Acer. According to the Taiwan EPA, the “Guideline for promoting the Repairability Index of electronic products” will be formulated in the coming future to promote the scheme.
Five criteria of Repairability Index
The Repairability Index is a score ranging from 0 to 10, which is calculated based on the following 5 criteria. It is used to indicate the repairability of a product, the higher the number of the index, the higher the repairability of the product.
- Documentation: A score determined by the number of years the manufacturer commits to make relevant technical documents available free of charge.
- Disassembly procedure: A score determined by how easy it is to disassemble the product, and the type of tools and fasteners needed.
- Availability of spare parts: A score determined by the length of time the manufacturer commits to make spare parts available for the product and the time it takes to deliver them.
- Price of spare parts: A score determined by the ratio of the sale price of spare parts to the price of the product.
- Specific criteria: A score determined by criteria specific to the product category, such as the information update and after-service.
The future schedule
According to the plan announced by the Taiwan EPA, it will conduct a trial project in June 2023 for mobile phones and laptops manufacturers who wish to participate in the project voluntarily. And it will publish the score of each target product in October 2023. In addition, the “Guideline for promoting the Repairability Index of electronic products” will be formulated by the end of 2023, and the addition of the “Durability Index” is also under the consideration.
For the original text of the above contents, please refer to the following URL (in Traditional Chinese).
https://enews.epa.gov.tw/Page/3B3C62C78849F32F/1618ceb4-fe6e-45dc-8ceb-fa298f6a1b50
