Does a better-performing replacement part automatically make the repair substantial?
No. Better performance alone does not make a replacement a substantial modification.
Assess what the changed performance does to the host product. The repair becomes substantial only if the change affects compliance with Annex I Part I, changes the assessed intended purpose, or changes cybersecurity-relevant operation or risk beyond the existing assessment. The replacement may still fall outside the Article 2(6) identical-spare-part exclusion and need its own CRA scope assessment even when the host-product repair is not substantial.
Article 2(6) sets the narrow identical-spare-part exclusion, while Article 3(30) and Recital 42 set the separate substantial-modification test for the repaired product.
Draft guidance point 90 and Examples 29 and 30 distinguish better-performing replacement parts from changes that alter core behaviour or cybersecurity risk.