Edigar Wechuli (University of Nairobi Faculty of Law) has posted The Missing Link: Integrating the Right to Repair into Kenya’s Extended Producer Responsibility Framework as a Tool for Consumer Protection and Environmental Sustainability on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Kenya’s rapid digital transformation has catalyzed economic growth but generated an e-waste crisis of unprecedented proportions, yielding over 51,300 metric tons of electronic waste annually. While the Sustainable Waste Management Act (SWMA) 2022 and its 2024 Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations mark a pivotal shift toward a circular economy, they remain fundamentally producer-centric and downstream in scope. This paper examines the critical legislative lacuna at the intersection of environmental law, consumer protection, and intellectual property (IP) law: the failure to address upstream drivers of e-waste, specifically planned obsolescence and the systematic denial of the right to repair. By analyzing statutory gaps and emerging Kenyan jurisprudence alongside comparative frameworks—most notably the European Union’s 2024 Right to Repair Directive—this study demonstrates that current EPR mechanisms effectively subsidize linear waste production. To achieve genuine circularity, Kenya must integrate a legally enforceable right to repair into its EPR framework. A three-pronged legislative reform strategy is proposed: amending the SWMA to mandate repairability and spare part accessibility; revising the Consumer Protection Act 2012 to prohibit anti-repair practices; and clarifying IP law flexibilities under the Industrial Property Act 2001 and Copyright Act 2001 regarding the doctrine of exhaustion and repair exemptions.
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Lawrence Solum