New York state passes first electronics right-to-repair bill

The fight for the right to repair scored a huge win Friday with New York state passing a bill that requires digital electronics manufacturers to make repair information available to consumers.

The Digital Fair Repair Act was passed in the New York Senate and Assembly. The bill needs to be signed by Governor Kathy Hochul before it becomes law.

Medical devices, home appliances, agricultural and off-road equipment, and public safety communications equipment are not covered by the bill. Right-to-repair advocates are also interested in those areas. Motor vehicles are not covered by the bill.

Companies selling tech products in New York that are covered will be obligated to distribute information, software, tools, and parts so that individuals and independent repair shops can fix their own devices.

The bill states it.

"Requires OEMs to make available, for purposes of diagnosis, maintenance, or repair, to any independent repair provider, or to the owner of digital electronic equipment manufactured by or on behalf of, or sold by, the OEM, on fair and reasonable terms, documentation, parts, and tools, inclusive of any updates to information. Nothing in this section requires an OEM to make available a part if the part is no longer available to the OEM. For equipment that contains an electronic security lock or other security-related function, the OEM shall make available to the owner and to independent repair providers, on fair and reasonable terms, any special documentation, tools, and parts needed to access and reset the lock or function when disabled in the course of diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of the equipment. Such documentation, tools, and parts may be made available through appropriate secure release systems."

Fighting “monopolistic practices”

The bill was able to argue that it will help protect against excessive practices of digital electronics manufacturers. Consumers were forced to rely on product manufacturers and their authorized repair providers.

The bill states that there is nothing that prevents third-party repairers from being technically competent. Repairs of digital items are often limited by the manufacturer.

The bill states that inflated, high repair prices, poor service or non-existent service in rural areas, and high turnover rates for electronic products are justifications for the legislation.

The fight for the right to repair was one of the reasons why e-waste was included in the bill. The bill would help to reduce the 655,000 tons of toxic e-waste produced in New York state.

According to a study by the US Public Interest Group, the average New York family would save $330 a year and reduce electronic waste by 22% if they had the right to repair.

Beyond the Empire State

There's more legislation required before the right extends across the country and product categories.

The passing of the law is expected to have an impact around the world. The executive hopes that the repair manual will be open to everyone.

Outside of New York, Wiens is hopeful that software protections will catch on.

The software locks that some manufacturers use to tie parts to the device are included in the New York law. The public will have to be given access to parts pair reset tools. It's a huge boon for repair, but it also helps the industry by making it difficult to get parts from old devices.

The need for federal involvement is one of the biggest challenges in the fight for the right to repair. Our interview with the CEO of iFixit can be found here.