Repairability Index and ESPR: How to Document Your Product's Repairability

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For a long time, "our products are repairable" was a sales argument. Today, it's a documented obligation. The French repairability index paved the way; ESPR generalizes this logic at the European level through the product digital passport.

For a manufacturer, this changes everything: it's no longer enough to claim that a product is repairable, you must prove it — parts, manuals, availability, service history. This article details the concrete criteria and how to document them.

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What is the Repairability Index?

The repairability index is a score assigned to certain products to inform consumers about their ability to be repaired. Established in France, it foreshadows part of the requirements that the ESPR generalizes at the European level, and it is gradually evolving toward a broader durability index.

Repairability index, in one sentence: a score that translates, in an objective and comparable way, how much a product can be repaired rather than discarded.

The Real Criteria for Repairability

Contrary to popular belief, repairability is not judged "by feel". It is based on precise and measurable criteria.

Criterion	What is evaluated
🔩 Disassembly	Can the product be opened and repaired without destroying it? Necessary tools, component accessibility.
📄 Technical documentation	Repair manuals available for professionals and consumers.
📦 Parts availability	Time to supply spare parts after product purchase.
💶 Parts pricing	Cost of spare parts relative to the price of a new product.
⚙️ Category-specific criteria	Depending on the category: software updates for electronics, for example.

Key takeaway: each of these criteria requires real data, not an estimate. A parts availability timeframe must be accurate; a repair history must exist.

The Real Challenge: Document, Don't Just Declare

This is where most manufacturers struggle. Filling in a "repairable: yes" field is easy. Proving repairability continuously is much harder.

Documenting repairability concretely means:

• Maintaining a structured and up-to-date spare parts catalog.
• Knowing and tracking your real availability timelines.
• Tracing each intervention (internal or through a repair network) and having it feed into the product passport.
• Ensuring timestamped traceability of each repair, enforceable in case of inspection.

This is the role of a module like Repair: to structure and continuously feed repairability data — diagnostics, parts, interventions — so it automatically feeds the passport, without re-entry.

Repairability and DPP: The Two Are Linked

Repairability is not an isolated exercise. In the ESPR logic, it is one of the data points that the digital product passport must carry. And each repair performed should update this passport.

And repairability alone is not enough: it combines with verified durability (inspection and grading, via a module like Recheck) to form a truly credible DPP. Repairability proves that the product can be repaired; verification proves its actual state. Together, the two make a passport that holds up to audit.

How to Structure Your Product Repairability

1. Audit your parts catalog — what is available, at what lead time, at what price.
2. Organize technical documentation — manuals accessible to professionals and consumers.
3. Structure the repair workflow — a process (internal or repair network) that tracks each intervention.
4. Connect to the passport — each repair automatically updates the product's DPP.
5. Combine with condition verification — inspection/grading complements repairability for a credible DPP.

FAQ — Repairability Index and ESPR

What is the difference between the repairability index and ESPR? The repairability index is a pioneering French initiative. ESPR generalizes this logic at the European scale and integrates repairability as a data point in the digital product passport.

What criteria make up repairability? Primarily: disassemblability, availability of technical documentation, availability of spare parts, their price, and category-specific criteria (software for electronics, for example).

How do you prove a product's repairability? By maintaining an up-to-date parts catalog, real availability timelines, accessible manuals, and most importantly, a traced and timestamped history of interventions linked to each product.

Should repairability be included in the DPP? Yes. In the ESPR logic, repairability is one of the data points that the digital passport must contain, and each repair should enrich this passport.

Are repairability and durability the same thing? No, but they are complementary. Repairability proves that the product can be repaired; verified durability proves its actual condition. Together, the two make a DPP credible.

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