Bonus-malus: the least repairable phones are ultimately not penalized
Buy one Fairphone now costs a little less. The bonus-malus system provided for by the Agec law of 2020 actually came into force at the beginning of this year 2025, giving the Dutch telephone a discount of €20 due to its excellent repairability. Unfortunately, the ambition of this measure pretty much ends there.
As revealed a daily article The Worldthe system adopted on January 1 has been largely reduced compared to that imagined a year ago. From €40 bonus, the amount was reduced to €20, the eligibility threshold for smartphones was set at 9.2/10 on repairability index scaleand the penalty on the least repairable products has been abandoned. As a result, barely a handful of smartphones benefit from the bonus, none are hit by the penalty and the discount is lower than expected.
No penalty, few bonuses
The reason for this big step backward is economic. Ecologic like Ecosystem, the two organizations responsible for piloting this measure “eco-modulation”informed the Ministry of Ecology of the difficulties in implementing this reform.
“The penalty would have pushed manufacturers to raise the repairability ratings of their devices, and consumers to avoid penalized models, reducing the revenue generated by the penalty”explains Bertrand Reygner, director of institutional and technical relations at Ecologic to the evening newspaper. Without income from the penalty on one side, it is difficult to finance the bonus on the other.
The very high threshold decided for smartphones, which only makes the Fairphone and certain Crosscall smartphones eligible, responds to the same challenge. It is impossible to plan a generous bonus base without digging into the coffers of eco-organizations in the process. Add to this the difficulty for eco-organizations of precisely control the repairability scores self-assigned by manufacturers and we obtain a logistics gas plant.
See you again in 2027
For the moment, the bonus will be primarily financed by an increase in the eco-contribution, a tax which affects all phones, whether they are virtuous or not. The latter will increase from €2 to €2.56 on smartphones. The most repairable terminals will therefore partly finance their own bonus.
The most repairable computers, washing machines, dishwashers and televisions will also be entitled to a bonus of €20, while the most deserving vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers and high pressure cleaners will only be awarded €10 €.
Eco-organizations do not refrain from returning to a more traditional bonus-malus system, but “not before 2027”notes Ecologic. As a reminder, the ambitions of the bonus were to cover 10% of the equipment marketed, which will undoubtedly require a review of the eligibility threshold.
