New York’s “right-to-repair” law requiring electronics manufacturers to give consumers and independent shops access to the same parts, tools and manuals used by officially authorized repair shops now in effect.
Advocates estimate it’ll save the average New York household about $330 per year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law in December 2022, and its requirements went into effect exactly a year later, on Thursday. Assemblymember Patricia Fahy said she introduced the legislation last year to address monopolies in the electronic repair market.
State officials say it’s the first law of its kind in the United States.
The law gave manufacturers a year to follow new requirements. But Johnny Kim, a manager at New York Computer Help in SoHo, said he’s already felt its effects — his shop has already been able to source more parts directly from electronic companies for a few months now.
“Parts have been getting a little bit cheaper and easier to find,” Kim said.
What does the bill mean for me as a consumer?
You can now get electronic devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, drones and TVs fixed by any repair shop in the state that is willing to take on the job, using original parts and instructions from the manufacturer — rather than having to go to the manufacturer or to specifically authorized shops. You can also order original parts for repair yourself.
That can mean lower costs, or not having to use third-party hardware that might lack the same quality or compatibility as equipment from the original manufacturer.
“For many years [repair shops have] been trying to cobble together all of those elements, but big manufacturers have clamped down on access to tools and parts,” Chuck Bell, a program director at Consumer Reports, said on WNYC’s “Morning Edition.” “They’ve made it really hard for consumers to do even simple repairs such as replacing a cracked screen, a battery or a hard drive.”
Bell also added that bringing a device to an…
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