Right to Repair

IN NEWS:

• Recently, the New York State Legislature in the United States has passed the world's first 'Right to Repair' law, the Digital Fair Repair Act, for digital electronics.

MORE ON NEWS:

• This act provides consumers with the right to repair and refurbish their purchased goods.
• The Digital Fair Repair Act would require digital electronics manufacturers to make parts, tools, information, and software available to consumers and independent repair shops.
• With access to relevant tools and repair manuals, independent repair shops will be able to compete with manufacturers.
• This bill covers most products containing electronics, but it does not include motor vehicles, home appliances, medical devices, public safety communications equipment like police radios, agricultural equipment, and off-road equipment.

WHAT IS RIGHT TO REPAIR?

• Right to repair is the legal concept that allows consumers to repair the products they buy or choose their own service providers (third-party) instead of going through the manufacturer.
• The rationale behind the “right to repair” is that the individual who purchases a product must own it completely.
• This implies that apart from being able to use the product, consumers must be able to repair and modify the product the way they want to.
• Right to repair in the electronics industry dates back to the dawn of the computer era in the mid-1950s
• Since the late 1990s, right to repair has been a hotly contested issue, especially in the electronics, automotive and farm equipment industries.
• In recent years, the issue gained a higher profile when right to repair legislation was filed in several U.S. states and major tech vendors, including Apple, AT&T, and Microsoft, and their trade associations, lobbied against it, claiming safety, security, and copyright concerns.

IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT TO REPAIR:

• Environmental benefits:
  • Right to Repair legislations mandate that electronics manufacturer provide spare parts and repair manuals for aging electronics.
  • Advocates of right to repair say this is going to help cut down on the growing e-waste problem.
  • Manufacturing an electronic device is a highly polluting process.
  •  It makes use of polluting sources of energy, such as fossil fuel, which has an adverse impact on the environment.
  • Improving the life of devices as well as repair and reuse will reduce this adverse impact on environment.
• Alleviate the digital divide:
  • Right to repair could also alleviate the digital divide by making cheaper refurbished goods available in higher quantities to people who can't afford new products.
•  Boost local repair shops and small businesses:
  • Right to repair laws would boost local repair shops and small businesses as the consumer can choose their own service providers (third-party) for repair and modification instead of going through the manufacturer.

• • For example, manufacturers will no longer be able to dictate who can repair their products by authorising only a few select "service centres".
• Against “planned obsolescence”:
  • Right to repair movement and legislations attempt to fight against the idea of planned obsolescence and to make electronics last longer.
  • Planned obsolescence is an old marketing concept in which the manufacturers deliberately design and create products in a manner and in a form that limits their lives. The goal is to make sure that consumers buy new versions of these products on a regular basis.
    • For example, Apple routinely puts certain older versions of its products on the “obsolete” list. This means that Apple stops offering hardware support for those products at its service centres.
• UN Sustainable Development Goals:
  • Right to repair is a step toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal 12 on responsible consumption and production.
• Promotes Circular Economy:
  • Availability of genuine product parts and instructions from manufacturers will prolong product life and promotes reuse of the devices.
  • So right to repair can be a milestone on the path to a circular economy. (https://ilearncana.com/details/Circular-Economy/1393)

CONCERNS:

• Intellectual property and security concerns:
  • Large tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla, have been lobbying against the right to repair.
  • Their argument is that opening up their intellectual property to third party repair services or amateur repairers could lead to exploitation and impact the safety and security of their devices.
  • For example, Tesla has fought against right to repair advocacy, stating that such initiatives threaten data security and cyber security.
• Companies promote alternatives to counter the ‘right to repair’:
  • The companies are constantly claiming that they are working towards greater durability themselves.
  • For example, Microsoft has pointed out how it improved the battery and hard drive of its third-generation Surface Laptop after it was criticised for making it next to impossible to replace the battery in older models.
• Mechanisms that forbid repair by third parties:
  • Big companies often deploy mechanisms that practically forbid other enterprises to repair their products.
  • Digital warranty cards, for instance, ensure that by getting a product from a “non-recognised” outfit, a customer loses the right to claim a warranty.

WAY FORWARD:

• Providing access to spare parts and information is imperative, If people want to repair and modify things in a timely, safe and cost-effective way, whether by doing it themselves or taking it to a service centre of their choice, thus to the “Right to Repair” in its true spirit.
• Need of the hour is a well-drafted legislation will not only uphold the right to repair but may aid in striking a much-needed balance between intellectual property and competitive laws.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. “In view of the rapidly growing problem of electronic waste generation, enforcing the ‘right to repair’ could be a milestone on the path to a circular economy which provides incentives for reusing products rather than discarding them”.Discuss.