II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3830 

To require original equipment manufacturers of digital electronic equipment 

to make available certain documentation, diagnostic, and repair information to independent repair providers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2022 

Mr. LUJA ́N (for himself, Ms. LUMMIS, and Mr. WYDEN) 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 of digital electronic equipment to make available certain documentation, diagnostic, and repair information to independent 

repair providers, 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 ‘‘Fair Repair Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO MAKE DIAGNOSTIC, MAINTE2 NANCE, AND REPAIR EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE 

3 TO INDEPENDENT REPAIR PROVIDERS. 

4 In the case of digital electronic equipment manufac5 tured by or on behalf of, sold, or otherwise supplied by 

6 an original equipment manufacturer, the original equip7 ment manufacturer shall make available, for the purposes 

8 of diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of such equipment, 

9 to independent repair providers and owners of such equip10 ment on fair and reasonable terms, documentation, parts, 

11 and tools, inclusive of any updates. 

12 SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 

13 (a) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM14 MISSION.— 

15 (1) UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC16 TICES.—A violation of section 2 shall be treated as 

17 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 

18 act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 

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

20 57a(a)(1)(B)). 

21 (2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

23 enforce this Act and any regulations promul24 gated under this Act in the same manner, by 

25 the same means, and with the same jurisdic26 tion, powers, and duties as though all applicable 


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1 terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 

2 Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in3 corporated into and made a part of this Act, 

4 and any person who violates this Act or a regu5 lation promulgated under this Act shall be sub6 ject to the penalties and entitled to the privi7 leges and immunities provided in the Federal 

8 Trade Commission Act. 

9 (B) REGULATIONS.—The Commission 

10 may, under section 553 of title 5, United States 

11 Code, prescribe any regulations it determines 

12 necessary to carry out this Act. 

13 (C) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 

14 this Act shall be construed to limit the author15 ity of the Commission under any other provi16 sion of law. 

17 (b) ENFORCEMENT BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN18 ERAL.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the chief law enforcement 

20 officer of a State, or an official or agency designated 

21 by a State, has reason to believe that any person has 

22 violated or is violating section 2, the attorney gen23 eral, official, or agency of the State, in addition to 

24 any authority it may have to bring an action in 

25 State court under its consumer protection law, may 


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1 bring a civil action in any appropriate United States 

2 district court or in any other court of competent ju3 risdiction, including a State court, to— 

4 (A) enjoin further such violation by such 

5 person; 

6 (B) enforce compliance with such section; 

7 (C) obtain civil penalties; and 

8 (D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 

9 compensation on behalf of residents of the 

10 State. 

11 (2) NOTICE AND INTERVENTION BY THE

12 FTC.—The attorney general (or other such officer) 

13 of a State shall provide prior written notice of any 

14 action under paragraph (1) to the Commission and 

15 provide the Commission with a copy of the complaint 

16 in the action, except in any case in which such prior 

17 notice is not feasible, in which case the attorney gen18 eral shall serve such notice immediately upon insti19 tuting such action. The Commission shall have the 

20 right— 

21 (A) to intervene in the action; 

22 (B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all 

23 matters arising therein; and 

24 (C) to file petitions for appeal. 


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1 (3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED2 ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission has 

3 instituted a civil action for violation of this Act, no 

4 State attorney general, or official or agency of a 

5 State, may bring an action under this paragraph 

6 during the pendency of that action against any de7 fendant named in the complaint of the Commission 

8 for any violation of this Act alleged in the complaint. 

9 (4) RELATIONSHIP WITH STATE LAW CLAIMS.— 

10 If the attorney general of a State has authority to 

11 bring an action under State law directed at acts or 

12 practices that also violate this Act, the attorney gen13 eral may assert the State law claim and a claim 

14 under this Act in the same civil action. 

15 SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION, LIMITATIONS, AND NON16 APPLICATION. 

17 The following rules of construction, limitations, and 

18 non-application provisions apply to this Act: 

19 (1) SECURITY-RELATED FUNCTIONS NOT EX20 CLUDED.—For digital electronic equipment that con21 tains an electronic security lock or other security-re22 lated function, the original equipment manufacturer 

23 shall make available to the owner and to inde24 pendent repair providers, on fair and reasonable 

25 terms, any special documentation, tools, and parts 


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1 needed to disable the lock or function, and to reset 

2 it when disabled in the course of diagnosis, mainte3 nance, or repair of the equipment. 

4 (2) PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS.—Nothing 

5 in this Act shall be construed to require an original 

6 equipment manufacturer to divulge a trade secret, as 

7 defined in section 1839 of title 18, United States 

8 Code, to an owner or an independent repair provider 

9 except as necessary to provide documentation, parts, 

10 and tools on fair and reasonable terms. 

11 (3) TERMS OF AGREEMENT WITH AUTHORIZED

12 REPAIR PROVIDERS.—Notwithstanding any law, rule, 

13 or regulation to the contrary, no provision in this 

14 Act shall be construed to abrogate, interfere with, 

15 contradict, or alter the terms of any arrangement 

16 described in section 5(1)(A), including the perform17 ance or provision of warranty or recall repair work 

18 by an authorized repair provider on behalf of an 

19 original equipment manufacturer pursuant to such 

20 arrangement, except that any provision in such 

21 terms that purports to waive, avoid, restrict, or limit 

22 an OEM’s obligations to comply with this Act shall 

23 be void and unenforceable. 

24 (4) NON-APPLICATION TO MOTOR VEHICLE OR

25 MOTOR VEHICLE EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS.— 


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1 Nothing in this Act shall apply to a motor vehicle 

2 manufacturer, a manufacturer of motor vehicle 

3 equipment, or a motor vehicle dealer, acting in that 

4 capacity. 

5 (5) NON-APPLICATION TO MANUFACTURERS OF

6 MEDICAL DEVICES.—Nothing in this Act shall apply 

7 to a manufacturer of a medical device, acting in that 

8 capacity. 

9 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

10 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 

11 (1) AUTHORIZED REPAIR PROVIDER.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘authorized 

13 repair provider’’ means with respect to an 

14 OEM, a person that is unaffiliated with the 

15 OEM and that— 

16 (i) has an arrangement with the OEM 

17 in which the OEM grants to a person li18 cense to use a trade name, service mark, 

19 or other proprietary identifier for the pur20 poses of offering the services of diagnosis, 

21 maintenance, or repair of digital electronic 

22 equipment under the name of the OEM; or 

23 (ii) has an arrangement with the 

24 OEM to offer such services on behalf of 

25 the OEM. 


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1 (B) CLARIFICATION.—An OEM that offers 

2 the services of diagnosis, maintenance, or repair 

3 of digital electronic equipment manufactured by 

4 it or on its behalf, or sold or otherwise supplied 

5 by the OEM, and who does not have an ar6 rangement described in subparagraph (A) with 

7 an unaffiliated person with respect to providing 

8 such services for such equipment, shall be con9 sidered an authorized repair provider with re10 spect to such equipment. 

11 (2) DIGITAL ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT.—The 

12 term ‘‘digital electronic equipment’’ means any prod13 uct that depends for its functioning, in whole or in 

14 part, on digital electronics embedded in or attached 

15 to the product. 

16 (3) DOCUMENTATION.—The term ‘‘documenta17 tion’’ means any manuals, diagrams, reporting out18 put, service code descriptions, schematic, security 

19 code or password, or other information used in ef20 fecting the services of diagnosis, maintenance, or re21 pair of digital electronic equipment. 

22 (4) FAIR AND REASONABLE TERMS.—The term 

23 ‘‘fair and reasonable terms’’, with respect to a part, 

24 tool, or documentation, means at costs and terms 

25 that are equivalent to the most favorable costs and 


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1 terms under which an OEM offers the part, tool, or 

2 documentation to an authorized repair provider— 

3 (A) accounting for any discount, rebate, 

4 convenient and timely means of delivery, means 

5 of enabling fully restored and updated 

6 functionality, rights of use, or other incentive or 

7 preference the OEM offers to an authorized re8 pair provider, or any additional cost, burden, or 

9 impediment the OEM imposes on an owner or 

10 independent repair provider; 

11 (B) not conditioned on or imposing a sub12 stantial obligation or restriction that is not rea13 sonably necessary for enabling the owner or 

14 independent repair provider to engage in the di15 agnosis, maintenance, or repair of digital elec16 tronic equipment made by or on behalf of the 

17 OEM; and 

18 (C) not conditioned on an arrangement de19 scribed in paragraph (1)(A). 

20 (5) INDEPENDENT REPAIR PROVIDER.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘independent 

22 repair provider’’ means with respect to an 

23 OEM, a person that is not affiliated with the 

24 OEM or with an authorized repair provider of 

25 the OEM, when such person is engaged in the 


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1 diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of digital elec2 tronic equipment manufactured by or on behalf 

3 of, sold, or otherwise supplied by the OEM. 

4 (B) CLARIFICATION.—An OEM or, with 

5 respect to that OEM, a person who has an ar6 rangement described in paragraph (1)(A) with 

7 that OEM, or who is affiliated with a person 

8 who has such an arrangement with that OEM, 

9 shall be considered an independent repair pro10 vider for the purposes of those instances when 

11 such OEM or person engages in the diagnosis, 

12 service, maintenance, or repair of digital equip13 ment that is not manufactured by or sold under 

14 the name of that OEM. 

15 (6) MEDICAL DEVICE.—The term ‘‘medical de16 vice’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘device’’ 

17 under section 201(h) of the Federal Food, Drug and 

18 Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(h)). 

19 (7) MOTOR VEHICLE.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘motor vehi21 cle’’ means a vehicle that is designed for trans22 porting persons or property on a street or high23 way and is certified by the manufacturer under 

24 all applicable Federal safety and emissions 


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1 standards and requirements for distribution and 

2 sale in the United States. 

3 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘motor vehi4 cle’’ does not include— 

5 (i) a motorcycle; or 

6 (ii) a recreational vehicle or an auto 

7 home equipped for habitation. 

8 (8) MOTOR VEHICLE DEALER.—The term 

9 ‘‘motor vehicle dealer’’ means a person who— 

10 (A) is engaged in the business of selling or 

11 leasing new motor vehicles to another person 

12 pursuant to a franchise agreement; 

13 (B) has obtained a license to engage in 

14 such business under the applicable State law; 

15 and 

16 (C) is engaged in the services of diagnosis, 

17 maintenance, or repair of motor vehicles or 

18 motor vehicle engines pursuant to such fran19 chise agreement. 

20 (9) MOTOR VEHICLE MANUFACTURER.—The 

21 term ‘‘motor vehicle manufacturer’’ means a person 

22 engaged in the business of manufacturing or assem23 bling new motor vehicles. 

24 (10) ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER; 

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


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1 or ‘‘OEM’’ means any person who is engaged in the 

2 business of selling, leasing, or otherwise supplying 

3 new digital electronic equipment or parts of equip4 ment manufactured by or on behalf of itself, to any 

5 person. 

6 (11) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means a per7 son who owns or leases digital electronic equipment. 

8 (12) PART.—The term ‘‘part’’ means any re9 placement part, either new or used, made available 

10 by or to an OEM for purposes of effecting the serv11 ices of maintenance or repair of digital electronic 

12 equipment manufactured by or on behalf of, sold, or 

13 otherwise supplied by the OEM. 

14 (13) TOOLS.—The term ‘‘tools’’ means any 

15 software program, hardware implement, or other ap16 paratus used for diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of 

17 digital electronic equipment, including software or 

18 other mechanisms that provision, program, or pair a 

19 part, calibrate functionality, or perform any other 

20 function required to bring the equipment back to 

21 fully functional condition. 

22 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 This Act shall take effect 60 days after the date of 

24 enactment of this Act and shall apply with respect to 


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1 equipment sold or in use on or after the effective date of 

2 this Act. 

Æ 


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