The European “Right to Repair” directive gives customers the right to easier, faster, and cheaper repair of products, and the incentive to manufacturers to make longer lasting products. This is good news for anyone working with technical documentation, since the need for repair instructions will increase.
Written by: Karin Askeroth
Prolonged product lifecycle
In April 2024, the European parliament adopted the “Right to Repair” directive for customers. This new rule requires manufacturers to provide customers with timely and cost-effective repair of their products, even after the current EU required two-year minimum warranty expires. EU countries have been granted two years to incorporate this directive into their national legislation.
There is hope that this initiative will extend the life cycle of the products included in the legislation, as well as strengthen the EU repair market, whilst reducing costs for customers. Simply put, manufacturers will be bound to providing spare parts and tools, cannot impede the use of second-hand or 3D-printed spare parts by independent repairers, and will not be able to refuse to repair a product that has previously been repaired by a third party.
How will the tech doc profession be affected?
One of the core components of the “Right to Repair” movement is the availability of repair manuals. We can expect a rise in demand for detailed, user-friendly repair instructions.
Technical writers will play a crucial role by creating clear, accurate, and accessible documentation for a broad audience.
Documentation that consists of structured modular content will enable reuse of content, which in turn saves time and resources.
There will be a need for documentation aimed at different user groups, for example repair professionals and the customers themselves.
Efficiency using modular content
The use of modular content will effectivize work with technical documentation since it will maximize customer relevance while it decreases the personalization effort to as few and small components as possible. The personalization can be built by combining components to make the material meaningful for different user groups.
The upside of this method is that less content creation is needed to produce an exponential variety of tailored experiences.
Summary: The “Right to Repair” directive will mean an increased need for technical documentation by professionals, aimed at several different user roles. We believe that the ability to work with structured modular content will be especially important.
Our advice to you: To anyone working within tech doc: make sure you master structured modular content, reuse of content, and how you can use AI to make your work easier. To employers: having access to tech doc competence ensures your technical documentation is transformed from a barrier to a bridge, which helps you avoid issues like misunderstandings, errors, and wasted resources.