It might be nice for some products to have this designed into them, but the transition will be tough. It might mean redesigning a product well before the end of a natural product cycle. It will almost certainly raise costs (and thus prices) at transition.
Last big EU effort like this was RoHS, which actually lowered product lifespans and reliability substantially.
Even if it is overall a net good, the winners here will be those selling to EU people but exempt from the regulation during the transition (US, Canadian, etc retailers); once all the costs have been paid by EU consumers to the point that it makes sense to voluntarily adopt elsewhere, then global production might shift overall to selling these kind of devices only.
So, essentially a subsidy by the EU to the rest of the world in two separate ways.
> So, essentially a subsidy by the EU to the rest of the world in two separate ways.
Maybe, but as an EU citizen, I'd actually like them to do that - as long as I can hope it'll make a lasting change on the market. The market doesn't always find good solutions by itself; often it takes a powerful actor to push it in the right direction.
As an European, I don't mind that as long it works and makes the world a little bit cleaner. Your RoHS example was spot on why this works as even cheap Chinese knock offs are usually RoHS compliant now.
Last big EU effort like this was RoHS, which actually lowered product lifespans and reliability substantially.
Even if it is overall a net good, the winners here will be those selling to EU people but exempt from the regulation during the transition (US, Canadian, etc retailers); once all the costs have been paid by EU consumers to the point that it makes sense to voluntarily adopt elsewhere, then global production might shift overall to selling these kind of devices only.
So, essentially a subsidy by the EU to the rest of the world in two separate ways.