Big changes for anyone who needs to service their car or repair electronics and other valuables in South Africa
The Competition Commission has published new guidelines on the repair, service and maintenance aftermarkets, looking to extend the “right to repair” beyond cars and other vehicles.
The new draft guidelines want to extend the concept to other valuable products and electronics.
This initiative aims to allow consumers to repair their items more easily by ensuring they have access to parts and repair information.
The goal is to promote sustainability, reduce waste, and empower consumers across industries.
These new guidelines specifically target repairs that occur outside of implied or express warranty protections.
This includes cases where a warranty has expired or the damage is not covered, requiring consumers to pay out of pocket.
The Competition Commission’s recent draft guidelines outline several major changes which aim to promote open competition and protect consumers.
The guidelines focus on dismantling barriers to spare parts, tools, and software.
Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) must not restrict access to legitimate, traceable spare parts through exclusive supply contracts, refusals to supply, or discriminatory terms.
The guidelines tackle “parts-pairing” software that limits how replacement parts function unless activated by the original manufacturer, and address the practice of displaying warning messages on screens after independent repairs.
OEMs are discouraged from requiring specialised, proprietary tools or diagnostic software for routine repairs when commonly available alternatives can effectively do the job.
Accreditation or activation controls are permitted for high-security systems, such as anti-theft devices or life-endangering components, provided the criteria for such controls are objective, transparent, and non-discriminatory.
The guidelines also aim to promote fair pricing and price transparency.
If there is a prima facie case of abuse of dominance, the dominant manufacturer will bear the burden of proving that their spare parts prices are reasonable.
OEM’s cannot set minimum retail prices for spare parts
The guidelines also prohibit OEMs from setting minimum retail prices for spare parts, diagnostic tools, software, or actual repair services.
“A lack of transparency may be particularly harmful to competition where this information is only provided to repair and maintenance providers with whom the OEM has economic ties or who have been authorised by the OEM to provide repair and maintenance services,” said the Commission.
“OEMs may not prescribe minimum prices for repair and maintenance services,” the Commission said.
Independent Service Providers (ISPs) must be able to easily determine the cost of repair inputs through clear price lists, itemised quotes, and invoices.
In addition, the guidelines focus on protecting consumers from unfair penalties.
The Commission said it will investigate practices that artificially raise repair prices, making them uneconomical compared to purchasing a replacement product.
“The commission considers that consumers may be harmed by commercial practices that artificially raise the relative cost of repair and maintenance and thereby reduce the consumer incentives to repair the products,” said the Commission.
“Examples of practices that the commission may investigate include higher repair prices relative to those of a replacement product, decisions to discontinue supplying repair,” it said.
The Commission also said it would investigate maintenance services for goods that are still available in the primary market, and instances in which repairs are declared economically unviable when repairs may be feasible.
OEMs cannot impose warranty conditions that restrict consumer choice when the consumer is covering the cost of a repair unless those restrictions are strictly necessary to administer a valid warranty claim.
They must not discourage consumers from using independent repairers by withholding repair or service history records, requiring modifications to settings or subscriptions, or charging excessive fees.
Aside from the automotive sector, which remains under its own framework, these guidelines are expected to apply to several other product categories.
This includes mobile phones, tablets, gaming consoles, televisions, washing machines, tumble dryers, backup power and water systems, and medical devices.
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