Review - HR 4006 Introduced – Fair Repair Act

Last month, Rep Morelle (D,NY) introduced HR 4006, the Fair Repair Act. The bill would establish a requirement for original equipment manufacturers to make available “documentation, parts, and tools, inclusive of any updates to information or embedded software” for the purpose of diagnosis, maintenance or repair of equipment sold or used in the United States. It would also make the Federal Trade Commission the agency responsible for enforcement of the requirement.

Neither Morelle or his sole cosponsor {Rep Khanna (D,CA)} are members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. Generally, this means that the Committee is unlikely to consider this bill. If the bill were to be considered in Committee, it would almost certainly draw significant opposition from Republicans supporting manufacturers, and from some Democrats for privacy issues. There may not be enough votes to move the bill forward because of that opposition.

For more details about the provisions of the bill and my suggestions for improvements, see my article at CFSN Detailed Review - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-4006-introduced - subscription required.