Eleven years after the vote establishing planned obsolescence as a criminal offence, the first trial opened on Thursday 2 July 2026 in Nanterre, France, against the printer manufacturer Epson. This marks a huge step forward for product sustainability.
Following the preliminary hearing held on 2 July, the date for the hearing of the parties’ arguments has now been set. It will take place on 25 February 2027.
HOP welcomes this historic development.
The team from HOP – Stop Planned Obsolescence was present, along with its Executive Director, Laetitia Vasseur, and its lawyers. The Directorate General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), under the French Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, which conducted the investigation over a period of eight years, was also present, as were Epson’s lawyers and representatives.
By blocking printing whilst the ink in the cartridge has not yet run out and by prematurely reducing the lifespan of the ink pads, the Nanterre Public Prosecutor’s Office therefore considered that Epson had “used techniques designed to deliberately reduce the lifespan of [a] product in order to increase the replacement rate”. This practice forced consumers to buy new products, as these signals effectively prevented printing or scanning.
