a paper that was published as part of the investigation\u2019s output<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, in which we highlighted how existing competition law defines supply of spare parts as a market by itself, and that a refusal to supply, or placing barriers to supply are unlawful acts. If the existing law is properly applied, repair becomes viable, and the lost repair culture that the EAC wants to restore will naturally return,\u201d Mr Domb suggests.<\/p>\nAnthony Cousins, managing director of Cousins Material House adds:\u00a0\u201cCousins began in the repair world, and has grown because of its consistent support for that sustainable approach to consumer goods. We welcome the findings of the EAC, and will continue to support efforts to establish \u201cRight to Repair\u201d legislation, and do whatever we can to ensure that our industry is covered by it. We are approaching the end of proceedings in Switzerland and, having seen all the legal arguments, are confident that the Bern Court will rule in our favour. The practice of restricting parts supply that was begun by Rolex in the 1980s, and subsequently copied by almost all the other brands, has never been in the best interest of watch owners. It has resulted in higher prices, less choice on where repairs can be obtained, and a desperate shortage of new skilled repairers coming into the trade. The much vaunted improvements in repair quality and turnaround times that the brands claimed justified their actions, have also failed to materialise. Restrictions are never part of a repair culture; they are the death of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee says the Government must enshrine the right to repair in law and ensure access to affordable spare parts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":50745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[8739,170],"newspack_lstngs_evt":[],"newspack_lstngs_gen":[],"newspack_lstngs_mkt":[],"newspack_lstngs_plc":[],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"WATCHPRO","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56681"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_evt","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_evt?post=56681"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_gen","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_gen?post=56681"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_mkt","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_mkt?post=56681"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_lstngs_plc","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_lstngs_plc?post=56681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}