CYIL vol. 15 (2024)

CYIL 15 ȍ2024Ȏ NEW PROǧSUSTAINABILITY CONSUMER PROTECTION DIRECTIVE … NEW PRO-SUSTAINABILITY CONSUMER PROTECTION DIRECTIVE – THE CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATION OF THE RIGHT TO REPAIR IN THE CURRENT EU LAW 1 Radka MacGregor Pelikánová Abstract: The harmonization and reinforcing of the right to repair became one of the top priorities of the European Commission of Ursula von der Leyen in 2019–2024 and remains for 2024–2029. After consultations in 2022, a Proposal for a new Directive was prepared in 2023, approved by the European Parliament in the 1 st reading on 23 April 2024 and signed on 13 June 2024. The aim of this contribution is to conceptually analyze the right to repair as brought by this Directive. Methodologically, it is to be achieved by the appreciation of the inherent consumer protection background, the pro-sustainability context and content of this Proposal, the added changes and the smoothness of its approval. The Directive is signed and the right to repair is becoming a reality of EU law as the hallmark of an audacious pro sustainability move with the potential to change the global scenery and match the UN and EU endeavors towards SDGs. Resumé: Harmonizace a posílení práva na opravu zboží se stala jednou z priorit evropské komise pod vedením Ursula von der Leyen v období 2019–2024 a zůstává i pro 2024–2025. Po konzultacích v r. 2022, návrh směrnice byl připraven v r. 2023, přijat v Evropského parlamentu v 1. čtení dne 23. dubna 2024 a podepsán 13. června 2024. Záměrem tohoto příspěvku je koncepčně zanalyzovat právo na opravu, jak zakotveno touto Směrnicí. Me todologicky je toto realizovatelné zohledněním inherentního základu v podobě ochrany spotřebitele, kontextu udržitelnosti obsahu návrhu směrnice, změnami do něj přidanými a hladkostí jeho schválení. Směrnice je podepsána a právo na opravu se stává realitou EU práva coby odvážný a pro-udržitelnost orientovaný krok s potenciálem změnit globální sce nérii a sladit úsilí OSN a EU k dosažení Cílů udržitelného rozvoje. Key words: Consumers, EU, right to repair, sustainability On the author: JUDr. Radka MacGregor Pelikánová, Ph.D., LL.M., MBA is a research lead at the University of New York, with over one hundred academic publication outcomes dealing with the EU law, competition law, and intellectual property law. Introduction During the last four decades, EU consumer protection law has developed significantly and has expanded from just a mechanism to induce clear contract terms into a powerful multi-functional battery of tools to support European integration, the European single internal market, and to genuinely empower European consumers. Indeed the famous ‘average European consumer’ has been arguably undergoing a transformation from the homo economicus into homo responsabilus armed and equipped with various rights to boost sustainability (as opposed to waste and negative life cycle impacts), competitiveness, and generally a proper functioning of an internal single market. 2 To cement it and to modernize

1 This contribution was supported by the internal grant funding provided by the University of New York in Prague. 2 GALLARDO-VÁZQUEZ, D., VALDEZ-JUÁREZ, L.E., and CASTUERA-DÍAZ, A.M. Corporate Social

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