French environmentalists file complaint against Apple for wasteful practices

PARIS (Reuters) -A French environmental campaign group filed a complaint against Apple Inc. over commercial practices restricting the use of spare parts for repairs, it said on Wednesday.

"In many of the cases documented in the complaint, malfunctions are found in cases where the device is repaired with a part, even an identical and original part, not authorised by Apple's software," the HOP association said in a statement.

This would compromise the possibilities to repair or refurbish some products, including iPhone smartphones, the group said.

Apple France was not immediately available to comment.

In a similar case brought before the French consumer watchdog by the group in 2020, Apple agreed to pay 25 million euros ($26.32 million) for failing to inform iPhone users that updates of the operating system could slow down the functioning of the device.

Under French law, it is forbidden to deliberately reduce the lifespan of a product in order to increase its replacement rate.

($1 = 0.9500 euros)

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, Editng by Dominique Vidalon, Kirsten Donovan)