📋 Tender Overview
The Government today submitted to Parliament its report on software obsolescence. Objective fight against waste and reduce the environmental impact of the digital sector.75. This is the share of the environmental impacts of the digital sector solely linked to the manufacture of digital devices. One of the causes their renewal too quickly.To deal with this situation the Government submitted to Parliament on June 10 a report on software obsolescence provided for by Article 27 of Law No. 2020-105 of February 10 2020 on the fight against waste and the circular economy AGEC.What is software obsolescenceSoftware obsolescence corresponds to the reduction in the possibilities of using a digital device smartphone tablet computer etc. due to the unavailability or malfunction of software.Entrusted to the General Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development CGEDD and the General Council for the Economy CGE the report makes several proposals aimed at combating software obsolescence and extending the lifespan of digital devices. . A report which thus proposes to act on three axes.Improve consumer access to updates and softwareThe first recommendation is to allow the consumer to separate necessary and unnecessary updates. The general public must have access to the most transparent information possible on the impact of updates on their assets while limiting the size of essential updates. Objective to avoid the cases of obesware where a software update is too heavy for the equipment to support it.A dissociation which makes possible the flagship proposal of the report to require manufacturers to provide free of charge the updates necessary to maintain the conformity of the good. These must be available for a period corresponding to the expected duration of use for example 5 years for a smartphone.Facilitate the repair of devicesTo facilitate the repair of digital devices the report proposes to require manufacturers to make software and their updates available during the defined period of use and from the end of the marketing of the good. The goal is to make it possible to reinstall them in the event of a malfunction.Second point the report recommends removing the specific obstacles in terms of repair such as the difficulties of replacing the battery for mobile phones.Finally the report recommends carrying out a study to identify the right levers to prohibit software practices that block the operation of a device. Practices that often make it irreparable.Better inform the consumerThe authors of the report stress in their third axis the importance of information given to consumers. These point out in particular the importance of integrating the criteria relating to the durability of the software of a good in the future European index of repairability.Finally this report strongly recommends the adoption at European level of the majority of the proposals. An adoption which could be made within the framework of the Green Pact for Europe and the work to revise the eco-design directive which will begin.
