Back Market Proposes a Legally Mandated 10-Year Device Standard

Back Market said on September 23, 2026 that it is calling for a legally mandated 10-year device standard covering durability, repairability and long-term software support. The refurbished-electronics marketplace paired the call with the launch of Mine My Phone, which it describes as a public-interest platform on the environmental, human and geopolitical costs of making devices. The company argues that extending a smartphone's working life from what it calls a typical 2 to 2.5-year upgrade cycle to 10 years would cut raw-material extraction, citing its own calculation based on a 2022 ADEME study. It also pointed to a survey of 6,000 consumers across six countries, including the US, conducted by Opinium and commissioned by Back Market, in which 66 percent of respondents said they supported legislation of this kind. Back Market said it is convening a coalition of manufacturers, policymakers and circular-economy groups, with founding partners to be named ahead of its Slow Tech Summit in Paris on October 15, 2026.

For a US buyer of refurbished tech, this is a position paper rather than a rule. Back Market said it supports state-level Right to Repair bills in the US, but the release names no specific state, bill or deadline. The warranty, parts and software-update terms on any listing today are set by the seller and the manufacturer, not by this proposal. The practical move is unchanged: before buying, read what a seller publishes about warranty length, return window and software support. On Rebuya, the company page for a seller is where to check those stated terms, the model page for a given phone or laptop shows how listings for that device line up across sellers, and category pages help compare across device types.

The source does not establish that any government has adopted or drafted a 10-year standard, which jurisdictions Back Market wants it to cover, or when it might take effect. The announced coalition's founding partners were not named in this release. The extraction figures are Back Market's framing of third-party studies and have not been checked here, and the company's own notes say the survey should be treated as brand-commissioned research. The release says nothing about pricing, stock, warranty policy or any change to how Back Market or other refurbishers operate.