Planned obsolescence: legal aspects of counteraction

Abstract

Modern society faces new challenges due to the development of technology, economy, level of consumption. The article deals with the legal aspects of counteraction to the strategy of unscrupulous manufacturers for deliberate programming of technical defects of the goods, leading to the need to replace it immediately at the end of the warranty period. This strategy has significant implications for public health, social and environmental security. The objectives of the work are studying the actual problems of planned obsolescence of products, the search for its essence, principles and features. The author identifies legislative and law enforcement practice formed by the European Union and different countries in this area. The analysis of law in other countries allows to state the tendency of shift of emphasis from private law methods of protection of consumer and social rights to public law methods, to wider use of a number of coercive instruments. Rethinking the balance of private, public and public interests led to the author’s proposal to develop a holistic concept of legal regulation of civil law relations. As a result of the article, the directions for improving various branches of law in order to counteract the planned obsolescence of goods are proposed.

Keywords:

planned obsolescence, protection of consumer rights, protection of social rights, environmental safety, circular economy, holism, holistic concept of law