New York Right to Repair Bill Gets Significant Changes Before Signed Into Law

The Digital Fair Repair Act was signed on December 28th, and it will be implemented starting July 1st of 2023. It was meant to help consumers and independent repair providers obtain instructions from original equipment manufacturers for repairs, but amendments changed the rules.

Missing the Point

Supposedly, the act requires original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to provide manuals, diagrams, diagnostics, or parts to consumers or repair services, should they need it to repair their devices.

Amendments have been made to the act before it was passed into law, rendering it somewhat useless. The changes may have given OEMs ways to find loopholes to exploit and deny service to the people the law was made for.

As mentioned in The Verge, the announcement states that it only applies to devices manufactured or sold for the first time in New York, with the timetable starting from July 1st of 2023. This leaves a whole lot of devices behind.

The Amendments

Originally, the act was plain and simple. It was supposed to require OEMs to make diagnostic and repair information available, as well as electronic parts and equipment. However, the amendments led to a lot of electronics being left out.

The bill has exempted home appliances, motor vehicles, medical devices, and off-road equipment, which means that it won't fall under the bill's vision to "maximize the lifespan of their devices" by repairing them themselves.

This also applies to electronics used by schools, universities, and data centers, as mentioned by iFixIt. This eliminates a huge number of devices that were once part of the bill, not to mention all the devices made before it goes into effect.

The goal was for consumers to save money from repairs and reduce electronic waste. The safety and security of consumers were also brought up in the memorandum tweeted by Jon Campbell, a reporter from WNYC.

With that in mind, the bill now requires OEMs to provide assemblies of parts instead of individual components. It was said to be for consumers to or independent repair services to avoid the risk of improper installation, which may heighten the risk of injury.

This may mean that repairs would be way more expensive. A device that only needs to replace one component will have to pay for the parts that come with the assembly as well, obviously making for a more pricey repair.

Furthermore, OEMs can now deny customers and repair services security codes and materials, which may be needed to override security features. This prevents repairs from doing a simple software system repair for an otherwise working device.

Louis Rossman, a repair technician, said that these changes made the bill functionally useless, and the original manufacturers are expected to exploit these amendments to circumvent what they were initially required to provide.

Many criticized Governor Kathy Hochul for the changes she made to the bill, saying that she basically missed the point of it and that it was now useless.