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New Zealand has an e-waste problem, and an amended bill could help - but Master Electricians says it could come at a dangerous price.
Master Electricians has issued a warning to the Green Party, who is championing the Right to Repair Bill in New Zealand.
The Bill - which passed its first reading in Parliament last month - is part of a global movement aimed at giving consumers more power over the products they buy, especially in terms of maintenance and repair.
It seeks to extend the lifespan of goods and reduce waste.
There have been an increasing number of discussions and calls for legislation, especially to bring us in line with Australia, the EU, and some US states.
But Master Electricians chief executive Alex Vranyac-Wheeler tells The Detail that she has serious safety concerns.
"This proposal hit us out of left field," she says. "And I am concerned that not enough people are talking about it and not enough people understand the consequences.
"Electrical safety is our major concern. When you are dealing with products that are electrical in nature, currently if you want these fixed or repaired, these products come under the Prescribed Electrical Work, so you need to be a trained electrician to be able to repair or fiddle with those goods.
"So, the fear for me, when the nervousness kicked in, was when we realised the Bill talks so broadly about goods and the ability for consumers to fix those goods.
"And manufacturers may need to provide consumers with instructions on how to fix the goods and when you do that, the electrical safety regulations, which are in place to keep people safe, essentially are voided.
"So, it gives consumers the potential to be able to repair electrical goods when really they don't have the competence to do this."
Vranyac-Wheeler says this could be deadly.
"Take microwaves, for example, they have got huge capacitors in them, and they don't even have to be plugged to discharge huge amounts of voltage - we are talking hundreds of volts - that could kill someone.
"Electricity and people who are not trained to manage it is not a good mix."
She questions who would be liable if someone was injured or killed. When The Detail put this question to Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, she responded in a statement, saying:
"The Right to Repair is about empowering consumers with the resources they need to fix what they own and prevent goods from unnecessarily going to landfill.
"This Bill does not alter or undermine safety regulations that protect people from harm.
"The liability for injury would remain unchanged. Where it's unsafe, consumers should continue to use a professional repairer, who will have greater ability to repair products and appliances thanks to the obligation on manufacturers to provide manuals, software, information, and parts. That professional repairer could be a Master Electrician."
Master Electricians worries prices for goods will increase as a result of the bill, a concern shared by National and ACT.
"We need to think about the actual economic impact on manufacturers," ACT's Todd Stephenson told the house during the first reading of the bill.
"So if we impose this right to repair - it's not an offer to repair, it's not a maybe repair; it's a right - so a consumer can demand something is repaired, that is actually going to place additional costs on manufacturers, and we have to accept that.
"So those costs are... going to be passed on to the consumer. So I think we just need to think about that."
But Davidson says "overseas experiences of right to repair schemes have not shown evidence of increased prices. Ultimately, consumers will save money by not having to replace broken out-of-warranty goods thanks to the provision of parts and information by manufacturers".
Master Electricians says the bill is a "great first step in terms of sustainability... and we support the intent... but we really need a much longer and more in-depth consultation process.
"Let's start small and make sure the infrastructure is in place to enforce it."
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