South Africa’s Competition Commission has published final guidelines on who gets to repair your phone, laptop, TV and other electronics, and it is warning manufacturers against practices that shut out independent repair shops.
Why it matters beyond South Africa: the same fights over spare parts, repair manuals and software locks are happening wherever people use smartphones. The guidelines spell out, in plain terms, which manufacturer habits a competition regulator now sees as a possible problem.
What did the Competition Commission publish?
The Guidelines on Repair, Service and Maintenance Aftermarkets, dated October 2026, cover the repair and servicing of almost every kind of product: mobile phones, tablets, gaming consoles, TVs, home appliances, medical devices, and backup power and water systems. Cars are left out because they already have their own guidelines.
The guidelines do not create a new law. They explain how South Africa’s existing Competition Act applies to repair markets, and the Commission says it will judge each complaint on its own facts.
Which practices does the Commission flag?
The document lists conduct that may raise competition concerns, including:
- Refusing to sell spare parts to independent repairers, or making them hard to get
- Requiring repairs to be done with the manufacturer’s own diagnostic tools
- Software that stops a replacement part from working until the manufacturer activates it, known as parts pairing
- Warning messages that pop up after an independent repair
- Limiting access to technical information and repair manuals
- Pricing repairs so high, or declaring them “not viable” so quickly, that buying new looks like the only choice
- Discounts or loyalty deals that make the official repair cheaper without a sound business reason
What about my warranty?
The guidelines mainly apply to repairs you pay for yourself, outside a warranty. But being inside a warranty period does not on its own put a repair outside the guidelines.
On warranties, the Commission says a manufacturer can manage real warranty claims. Where a warranty is refused after an independent repair, the question it will look at is whether that repair actually caused the fault. In plain terms: a cracked screen fixed at a corner shop should not, by itself, be a reason to refuse an unrelated battery claim. That is our reading of the document, not a ruling.
What it means for you
- In South Africa: you have a clearer basis to ask a manufacturer why parts or repair information are unavailable, and independent shops can report practices that block them to the Competition Commission.
- Everywhere else: before you replace a phone with a broken screen or tired battery, get a repair quote from a trusted independent shop. Repair is often far cheaper, and our guide to whether your old phone is still good enough can help you decide.
What we don’t know yet
Whether any manufacturer changes its repair policies in South Africa, and whether the Commission opens cases using the new guidelines.
What to watch
Watch for the first complaints filed under the guidelines and any response from the big phone makers. If repair gets easier, it also means fewer phones thrown away early, a problem we looked at in the e-waste crisis.
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