Fair Repair Act
After a multi-year battle, New York has become the first state in the country to pass an electronics right-to-repair law, a historic win for consumers and independent repair shops across the U.S., not just in New York. The move has the potential to seismically shift the power balance between consumers and electronics manufacturers.
The bill overwhelmingly passed the state senate on Wednesday by a vote of 59 to 4. It passed the Assembly Friday afternoon by a vote of 145-1. It will now go to Gov. Kathy Hochul for final signing. The bill is the most expansive consumer rights legislation to pass in the United States in recent memory and is the result of countless hours of grassroots campaigning from consumers and consumer rights groups.
Statue Liberty and New York city skyline at sunset, in United States
“Thank you to the ASCDI for contributing to the Right-to-Repair effort since 2013. We couldn’t have accomplished this without the ASCDI and its members!”, said Todd Bone (From XSi, Past ASCDI Chairman and a Founding Board Member of Repair.org). “This is a significant win for IT sustainability! It is a major step in creating a level playing field for the IT aftermarket resellers, repair, maintenance, and ITAD service providers; and, a will greatly benefit end-users, and consumers of IT.”
“We’ve always said that when someone owns a product, they have the right to sell it, give it away and repair it with anyone they choose,” said ASCDI President Joe Marion. “If manufacturers become the sole source to repair a product, they can dictate its’ end of life by withholding tech support and maintenance. Dictating the end-of life-forces end users to buy new product they don’t need and ends up filling landfills with used and otherwise useful products.
Prior to this, Massachusetts had passed a repair bill focused on automobile data, and Colorado has passed a law concerning the repair of powered wheelchairs.
New York becomes the first state to apply the idea of right of repair, in law, to a broad definition of electronic products.
“We thank our members, for their support and the volunteers at Repair.org for focusing on this very important issue. This is a victory for end users, independent maintainers are IT resellers. We encourage Massachusetts and other states considering right to repair legislation to follow this environmentally responsible decision of the NY State Legislature.”
- Hear what it means from the Board of Repair.org
- For more information on ASCDI, please visit www.ascdi.com
- For more information on Repair.org please visit https://www.repair.org/