What will the EU’s right-to-repair rules change for the products that organisations buy and the information suppliers provide?
The legal shift is from replacement to repair
The European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive (EU) 2024/1799, commonly called the right to repair directive, two years ago. EU member states, including Latvia, must apply the new rules from 31 July 2026. Their stated purpose is to encourage goods to go to a workshop rather than be discarded. The measure sits within a wider move towards a circular economy, where renewable resources and recycled raw materials are prioritised and waste is reduced. For procurement, the relevant change is that a product’s useful life and ability to be repaired become part of the value offered by a supplier, rather than issues considered only after purchase.
Product information becomes part of the buying picture
The repair directive is being introduced alongside Regulation 2024/1781 on ecodesign for sustainable products. That regulation sets requirements for goods sold on the EU market, including electronic documentation and a digital product passport. The passport is intended to provide detailed information on a product’s environmental footprint, materials, repair options and disposal. This gives buyers a clearer basis for comparing products beyond their initial price or stated function. A procurement specification can therefore focus attention on whether a product can be maintained and ultimately disposed of, while suppliers will need to present the information required by the applicable rules.
Repairability is one part of a broader market reset
The EU measures form part of a broader package aimed at changing how goods are designed, sold and handled. The sustainable-products regulation includes a ban on destroying unsold clothes, shoes and accessories. A new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation is intended to substantially reduce packaging materials in circulation. Customs reform has also reduced the flow of goods from Chinese trading platforms, according to the source article. Euronews reported a fall of 30–40% in small consignments from China, while Latvia’s State Revenue Service said consignments completing customs formalities in July were down by about 25% compared with June. These developments reinforce the case for buyers to examine durability and repair alongside price.
The Latvian position is affected by regional trade routes
Latvia does not yet have detailed statistics on the movement of the small consignments concerned. The State Revenue Service has cautioned that many shipments arrive through Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, where they complete customs formalities, rather than entering Latvia directly. The regional figures show how uneven the effect can be: Lithuania declared 7.2 thousand such shipments in July, 61.3 times fewer than in the same period the previous year, while Estonia reported a 93% year-on-year reduction in August. For procurement teams, the wider lesson is to check the product information and repair arrangements attached to goods sold in the EU, rather than relying only on the route by which they enter the market.
IN NUMBERS
The new rules do not create a single purchasing procedure. They change the conditions around products placed on the EU market, making repair options, materials, environmental information and disposal more visible. Buyers assessing offers can use that information to consider the whole period of use, while suppliers will need to understand which documentation and product requirements apply to their goods. The source article does not establish how every Latvian procurement exercise will change, but the direction is clear: products designed and documented for longer use will fit the EU’s repair and circular-economy policy more closely.
Reported from pmo.ee, 2026-10-06. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
