[grkvlt]

> legislation that forces manufacturers of consumer goods to provide an estimate of product lifetime according to some agreed standard

isn't this exactly what a guarantee or warranty is? we have this now, where the manufacturer is legally obligated to provide a device that performs/operates/works according to the published specification for at least that long. of course, it doesn't work since consumers will then complain about 'planned obsolescence' when products actually live up to these estimates...