II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3549 

To require original equipment manufacturers to make available certain documentation, parts, software, and tools with respect to electronics-enabled 

implements of agriculture, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2022 

Mr. TESTER (for himself and Mr. LUJA ́N) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

A BILL 

To require original equipment manufacturers to make available certain documentation, parts, software, and tools 

with respect to electronics-enabled implements of agriculture, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agricultural Right to 

5 Repair Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) AUTHORIZED REPAIR PROVIDER.—The term 

2 ‘‘authorized repair provider’’— 

3 (A) means, with respect to an electronics4 enabled implement of agriculture of an original 

5 equipment manufacturer, a person that has an 

6 arrangement with an OEM under which the 

7 OEM grants such person a license to use a 

8 trade name, service mark, or other proprietary 

9 identifier for the purposes of offering diagnosis, 

10 maintenance, or repair services for the elec11 tronics-enabled implement of agriculture on be12 half of such person or the OEM; and 

13 (B) includes, with respect to digital elec14 tronic equipment, an OEM who offers diag15 nosis, maintenance, or repair services for the 

16 digital electronic equipment that the OEM 

17 manufactures or offers for sale. 

18 (2) COMMONLY AVAILABLE.—The term ‘‘com19 monly available’’ means any item that is commer20 cially available for purchase from more than a single 

21 seller and is not solely made available by an OEM 

22 for use on such OEM’s products. 

23 (3) DIGITAL ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT; EQUIP24 MENT.—The term ‘‘digital electronic equipment’’ or 

25 ‘‘equipment’’ means any product that depends for its 


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1 functioning, in whole or in part, on digital elec2 tronics embedded in or attached to the product. 

3 (4) DOCUMENTATION.—The term ‘‘documenta4 tion’’ means any manual, diagram, reporting output, 

5 service code description, schematic, library of diag6 nosed issues, software bill of material, or other guid7 ance or information used in effecting the services of 

8 diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of an electronics9 enabled implement of agriculture. 

10 (5) ELECTRONICS-ENABLED IMPLEMENT OF

11 AGRICULTURE.—The term ‘‘electronics-enabled im12 plement of agriculture’’ means equipment that— 

13 (A) is designed for agricultural purposes; 

14 (B) is exclusively used by the owner of the 

15 equipment in the conduct of the agricultural op16 erations of the owner; and 

17 (C) depends for its functioning, in whole or 

18 in part, on digital electronic equipment. 

19 (6) EMBEDDED SOFTWARE.—The term ‘‘em20 bedded software’’ means a programmable instruction 

21 provided on firmware delivered with an electronics22 enabled implement of agriculture. 

23 (7) FAIR AND REASONABLE TERMS.—The term 

24 ‘‘fair and reasonable terms’’ means, with respect to 


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1 a part, tool, software, or documentation offered by 

2 an OEM: 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.— 

4 (i) COSTS.—Costs that are equivalent 

5 to the lowest actual cost for which the 

6 OEM offers the part, tool, software, or 

7 documentation to an authorized repair pro8 vider, including any discount, rebate, or 

9 other financial incentive offered to an au10 thorized repair provider. 

11 (ii) TERMS.—Terms that— 

12 (I) are equivalent to the most fa13 vorable terms under which an OEM 

14 offers the part, tool, software, or doc15 umentation to an authorized repair 

16 provider, including the methods and 

17 timeliness of delivery of the part, tool, 

18 software, or documentation; 

19 (II) do not impose on an owner 

20 or an independent repair provider any 

21 substantial obligation to use or any 

22 restriction on the use of the part, tool, 

23 software, or documentation to diag24 nose, maintain, or repair an elec25 tronics-enabled implement of agriVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Feb 02, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3549.IS S3549

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1 culture made by the OEM, including a 

2 condition that the owner or inde3 pendent repair provider become an 

4 authorized repair provider or a re5 quirement that a part or tool be reg6 istered, paired with, or approved by 

7 the OEM or an authorized repair pro8 vider before such part or tool is oper9 ational; and 

10 (III) prohibit an OEM or an au11 thorized repair provider from impos12 ing any additional cost or burden that 

13 is not reasonably necessary or is de14 signed to be an impediment on the 

15 owner or independent repair provider. 

16 (B) FOR DOCUMENTATION.—With respect 

17 to documentation, that the documentation is 

18 made available by the OEM at no charge, ex19 cept that, when the documentation is requested 

20 in physical printed form, a charge may be in21 cluded for the reasonable actual costs of pre22 paring and sending the copy. 

23 (C) FOR SOFTWARE TOOLS.—With respect 

24 to a software tool, that the software tool is 

25 made available by the OEM at no charge and 


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1 without requiring authorization or internet ac2 cess for use or operation of the software tool, 

3 or imposing impediments to access or use (such 

4 as not making the software tool available for 

5 download, and, upon request, delivery via phys6 ical storage media), in the course of using the 

7 tool to diagnose, maintain, or repair and enable 

8 full functionality of an electronics-enabled im9 plement of agriculture, or in a manner that im10 pairs the efficient and cost-effective perform11 ance of any such diagnosis, maintenance, or re12 pair. 

13 (8) FIRMWARE.—The term ‘‘firmware’’ means a 

14 software program or set of instructions programmed 

15 on an electronics-enabled implement of agriculture, 

16 or on a part for such equipment, to allow the equip17 ment or part to communicate within a networked 

18 product or system or with other computer hardware, 

19 including any relevant patch or fix made by the 

20 OEM of such equipment or part. 

21 (9) INDEPENDENT REPAIR PROVIDER.—The 

22 term ‘‘independent repair provider’’ means, with re23 spect to an electronics-enabled implement of agri24 culture, a person who— 


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1 (A) is not an authorized repair provider of 

2 the electronics-enabled implement of agri3 culture; and 

4 (B) provides diagnosis, maintenance, or re5 pair services for the electronics-enabled imple6 ment of agriculture. 

7 (10) ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER; 

8 OEM.—The term ‘‘original equipment manufacturer’’ 

9 or ‘‘OEM’’ means any person that manufactures an 

10 electronics-enabled implement of agriculture and 

11 sells, leases, or otherwise supplies such implement to 

12 any other person. 

13 (11) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means any 

14 person that owns or leases an electronics-enabled im15 plement of agriculture other than the OEM of such 

16 electronics-enabled implement of agriculture. 

17 (12) PART.—The term ‘‘part’’ means any com18 ponent or subcomponent of an electronics-enabled 

19 implement of agriculture that is sold, supplied, or 

20 otherwise made available by an OEM for purposes of 

21 maintaining, repairing, or diagnosing such elec22 tronics-enabled implement of agriculture. 

23 (13) SOFTWARE BILL OF MATERIAL.—The term 

24 ‘‘software bill of material’’ means a formal record 


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1 containing the details and supply chain relationships 

2 of various components used in building software. 

3 (14) TOOL.—The term ‘‘tool’’ means any soft4 ware program (including any software update), 

5 hardware implement, or other apparatus used for re6 pair-related diagnostic testing, maintenance, or re7 pair of an electronics-enabled implement of agri8 culture, including software or any other mechanism 

9 that provisions the implement, programs the imple10 ment, pairs a new part, calibrates functionality, or 

11 performs any other function required to bring the 

12 implement back to fully functional condition. 

13 (15) TRADE SECRET.—The term ‘‘trade secret’’ 

14 has the meaning given such term in section 1839 of 

15 title 18, United States Code. 

16 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS FOR OEMS. 

17 (a) FAIR AND REASONABLE TERMS.—An original 

18 equipment manufacturer shall make available, on fair and 

19 reasonable terms, to any owner or independent repair pro20 vider any documentation, part, software, or tool required 

21 to diagnose, maintain, or repair digital electronic equip22 ment for any electronics-enabled implement of agriculture. 

23 (b) DISABLING SECURITY FUNCTIONS.—An OEM 

24 shall make available to any owner or independent repair 

25 provider, on fair and reasonable terms, any documentaVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:21 Feb 02, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3549.IS S3549

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1 tion, part, software, or tool required to disable or enable 

2 an electronic security lock or other security-related func3 tion of an electronics-enabled implement of agriculture. 

4 (c) INTERACTION WITH COPYRIGHT LAWS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 

6 1201(a) of title 17, United States Code, a person 

7 may circumvent a technological measure that effec8 tively controls access to a work protected under such 

9 title in connection with an activity protected under 

10 this Act if the purpose of such circumvention is to— 

11 (A) diagnose, maintain, upgrade, repro12 gram, or repair an electronics-enabled imple13 ment of agriculture; 

14 (B) enable interoperability with any com15 puter program or device used in an electronics16 enabled implement of agriculture; 

17 (C) conduct security research relating to 

18 an electronics-enabled implement of agriculture; 

19 or 

20 (D) enable non-infringing modification of 

21 any computer program or device used in an 

22 electronics-enabled implement of agriculture. 

23 (2) ACCESS TO TOOLS.—Notwithstanding sec24 tion 1201(a) of title 17, United States Code, a per25 son may manufacture, import, offer to the public, 


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1 provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, prod2 uct, service, device, component, or part thereof that 

3 is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of 

4 or use in circumventing a technological measure that 

5 effectively controls access to a work protected under 

6 such title for the purposes described in paragraph 

7 (1). 

8 (d) ENSURING COMMON AVAILABILITY.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any provi10 sion of title 17 or 35, United States Code, at such 

11 time as an OEM stops offering any documentation, 

12 part, software, or tool to any authorized repair pro13 vider, any copyright or patent held by the OEM with 

14 respect to such documentation, part, software, or 

15 tool shall be placed in the public domain. 

16 (2) REPLACEMENT.—An OEM shall ensure 

17 that any part required by the OEM’s electronics-en18 abled implement of agriculture can be replaced with19 out causing damage to the equipment using— 

20 (A) a commonly available tool; or 

21 (B) a tool that is not commonly available 

22 that is made available to owners or independent 

23 repair providers by the OEM on fair and rea24 sonable terms. 


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1 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

2 (a) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES.— 

3 A violation of section 3 or a regulation promulgated under 

4 this Act shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining 

5 an unfair or deceptive act or practice under section 

6 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

7 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

8 (b) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall en10 force this Act and any regulations promulgated 

11 under this Act in the same manner, by the same 

12 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and 

13 duties as though all applicable terms and provisions 

14 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 

15 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of 

16 this Act. 

17 (2) PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES.—Any person 

18 who violates section 3 or a regulation promulgated 

19 under this Act shall be subject to the penalties and 

20 entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in 

21 the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 

22 seq.). 

23 (3) AUTHORITY PRESERVED.—Nothing in this 

24 Act shall be construed to limit the authority of the 

25 Commission under any other provision of law. 


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1 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

2 The Commission shall promulgate in accordance with 

3 section 553 of title 5, United States Code, such rules as 

4 may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

5 SEC. 6. LIMITATIONS. 

6 Nothing in this Act shall be construed— 

7 (1) to require an OEM to divulge trade secrets 

8 to an owner or an independent service provider, ex9 cept as necessary to provide access to any necessary 

10 repair material or process on fair and reasonable 

11 terms; 

12 (2) to alter the terms of an agreement between 

13 an OEM and an authorized repair provider, except 

14 with respect to any provision of such an agreement 

15 that would limit the obligations of an OEM under 

16 this Act; 

17 (3) to require an authorized repair provider to 

18 make any documentation, part, or tool relating to an 

19 electronics-enabled implement of agriculture avail20 able on fair and reasonable terms unless the author21 ized repair provider is the OEM of such implement; 

22 (4) to require an OEM to provide any part or 

23 equipment solely used in the development of their 

24 products; or 

25 (5) to allow— 


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1 (A) any modification that permanently de2 activates a safety notification system when an 

3 electronics-enabled implement of agriculture is 

4 being repaired; 

5 (B) access to any function of a tool that 

6 enables the owner or independent repair pro7 vider to change the settings of an electronics8 enabled implement of agriculture so as to bring 

9 the equipment permanently out of compliance 

10 with any applicable safety or emissions laws; 

11 (C) the evasion of emissions laws or copy12 right laws; or 

13 (D) any other illegal modification activi14 ties. 

Æ 


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