Right to Repair

By Gay Gordon-Byrne, The Repair Association

What’s New in Right to Repair? Plenty — But Not Where We Expected.

Our more than 20 state bills stalled due to the pandemic. Most states are now out of session and won’t be back until their new sessions starting in 2021. We’ll be back, and stronger as well.

COVID 19 may help us make our case for legislation. OEMS reliant on China for supplies have lost their supply chain, and consumers literally don’t have the same “Throw Away and Buy New” options as before. More repair is happening as a result. More used equipment is being refurbished and deployed than in recent memory -- and used laptops suitable for school are in high demand.

Repair shops were deemed “Essential” and our members report business is decent, other than those located in malls which were closed. Most have been able to easily comply with social distancing, drop off and pickup service, and have been able help their customers when both OEMs and retailers are literally not working.

As a movement, repair is coming to be considered an important part of “Resiliency” where we aren’t totally beholden to the politics or health of any other country. Repair is a key part of keeping things in use even when the OEM is out of business. We hope this concern continues to resonate once the virus is gone.

We got involved in pushing for right to repair of ventilators early on in the pandemic because it seemed obvious that keeping those precious units up and running was going to be a challenge (https://www.businessinsider.com/ventilator-manufacturers-dont-let-hospitals-fix-coronavirus-right-to-repair-2020-5 With public pressure we’ve won some important concessions including voluntary releases of manuals, passwords, and reduced requirements for OEM visits to conduct “PM” (Preventative Maintenance).

iFixit and a team of roughly 200 volunteers crowdsourced 13,000 medical equipment repair manuals and posed them online for open access in a wiki format. Biomeds say its now easier to find manuals on the iFixit site than when stored on their own computer. Sadly, newer model manuals aren’t common as OEMS have monopolized access to on-line service documentation along with parts, tools, diagnostics, firmware and even training.

Internationally, the EU has advanced a call for more generally applicable Right to Repair in their Circular Economy Action Plan. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/european-commission-releases-report-44533/. Canadian and Australian farmers are forming their own Right to Repair groups. Australia is at the vanguard of using their Competition Bureau to demand restitution from major corporations such as Apple (Error 53), Sony (Game Stations) and are working on Farm tractors. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200421/08215944338/australia-takes-first-baby-steps-road-to-right-to-repair-law-with-consultation-about-tractors.shtml

Gay Gordon-Byrne is the Executive Director of The Repair Association, a multi-stakeholder coalition of trade associations, businesses, charities and individuals all active in the repair, reuse, recycling or resale of digital electronic products. In her many years in the computer industry – Gay has had an inside look at how manufacturers, distributors, partners and retailers interact with their customers, service providers, lessors and lenders. She is the author of  "Buying Supporting and Maintaining Software and Equipment: An IT Manager's Guide to Controlling the Product Lifecycle."