Planned Obsolescence and Criminal Law: A Problematic Relationship?

Abstract

“Planned Obsolescence” is the production of goods with uneconomically short useful lives so that consumers will have to make repeat purchases. This phenomenon causes damages for consumers, forced to bear the costs of repairs and the continued new purchase of these goods, but also for the environment, both from the point of view of the non-rational use of natural resources and from the point of view of an excessive production of waste. The way of criminalization was followed for the first time by the French legislature, which in 2016 introduced a new crime in the Consumer Code. The French experience is an interesting test to assess the legitimacy and effectiveness of the use of criminal law. The research aims to verify whether the use of “criminal law” can be considered such dissuasive measure against Planned Obsolescence, according to the provisions of Motion for a European Parliament resolution «on a longer lifetime for products: benefits for consumers and companies» (2016/2272). The use of criminal law undoubtedly has advantages in terms of general prevention. At the same time, this is a problematic option, if we take into account the general principles ruling criminal law (principle of strict legality and principle of offensiveness). The result of the research is that it is necessary to adopt a model of regulation that integrates soft law instruments, commercial law actions (class action) and administrative controls. Against Planned Obsolescence, the use of criminal law should be limited only to cases of failure of other measures, according to the “extrema ratio” principle.