Right to Repair Act Declawed Before Becoming Law

Several media outlets have reported that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Digital Fair Repair Act on December 28, 2022, and the law will go into effect on July 1. However, critics claim that the version that was signed into law is a shadow of the original piece of proposed legislation.

“The bill establishes that consumers and independent repair providers have a right to obtain manuals, diagrams, diagnostics and parts from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in order to repair their own devices,” The Verge reports. “However, the bill was meaningfully compromised at the last minute by amendments that give OEMs some convenient exceptions and loopholes to get out of obligations that many right to repair advocates had been hoping for.”

The Verge goes on to point out that, “the bill does cast a wide net on the eligibility of protected devices, using the term ‘digital electronic equipment.’ However, it exempts certain industries altogether, including home appliances, motor vehicles, medical devices, and off-road equipment. It also exempts enterprise devices relied upon by schools, hospitals and data centers, writes iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens in a statement on the company’s blog.

Read the complete article from The Verge here.