I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4006 
To require original equipment manufacturers of digital electronic equipment 
to make available certain documentation, diagnostic, and repair informa-
tion to independent repair providers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 17, 2021 
Mr. MORELLE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To require original equipment manufacturers of digital elec-
tronic equipment to make available certain documenta-
tion, diagnostic, and repair information to independent 
repair providers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fair Repair Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO MAKE DIAGNOSTIC, MAINTE-
NANCE, AND REPAIR EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE 
TO INDEPENDENT REPAIR PROVIDERS. 
(a) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—For digital electronic 
equipment sold or used in the United States, an original 
equipment manufacturer shall make available, for the pur-
poses of diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of such equip-
ment, to independent repair providers or owners of such 
digital electronic equipment manufactured by or on behalf 
of, or sold or otherwise supplied by the original equipment 
manufacturer, in a timely manner and on fair and reason-
able terms, documentation, parts, and tools, inclusive of 
any updates to information or embedded software. 
(b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO AN 
EXPRESS WARRANTY.—When the OEM has made an ex-
press warranty with respect to digital electronic equipment 
and the wholesale price of the equipment is $100 or more, 
the manufacturer shall provide such parts, tools, and doc-
umentation as to enable the repair of the equipment dur-
ing the warranty period, at an equitable price and conven-
ience of delivery and of enabling functionality, in light 
of— 
(1) the actual cost to the OEM to prepare and 
distribute the part, tool, or documentation, exclusive 
of any research and development costs incurred; 
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(2) the ability of owners and independent repair 
providers to afford the part, tool, or documentation; 
and 
(3) the means by which the part, tool, or docu-
mentation is distributed. 
SEC. 3. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) ENFORCEMENT BY THE FEDERAL TRADE COM-
MISSION.— 
(1) UNFAIR
OR
DECEPTIVE
ACTS
OR
PRAC-
TICES.—A violation of section 2 shall be treated as 
a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 
act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) 
of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 
57a(a)(1)(B)). 
(2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 
enforce this Act and any regulations promul-
gated under this Act in the same manner, by 
the same means, and with the same jurisdic-
tion, powers, and duties as though all applicable 
terms and provisions of the Federal Trade 
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were in-
corporated into and made a part of this Act, 
and any person who violates this Act or a regu-
lation promulgated under this Act shall be sub-
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ject to the penalties and entitled to the privi-
leges and immunities provided in the Federal 
Trade Commission Act. 
(B) 
REGULATIONS.—The 
Commission 
may, under section 553 of title 5, United States 
Code, prescribe any regulations it determines 
necessary to carry out this Act. 
(C) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 
this Act shall be construed in any way to limit 
the authority of the Commission under any 
other provision of law. 
(b) ENFORCEMENT
BY STATE ATTORNEYS GEN-
ERAL.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—If the chief law enforcement 
officer of a State, or an official or agency designated 
by a State, has reason to believe that any person has 
violated or is violating section 2, the attorney gen-
eral, official, or agency of the State, in addition to 
any authority it may have to bring an action in 
State court under its consumer protection law, may 
bring a civil action in any appropriate United States 
district court or in any other court of competent ju-
risdiction, including a State court, to— 
(A) enjoin further such violation by such 
person; 
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(B) enforce compliance with such section; 
(C) obtain civil penalties; and 
(D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 
compensation on behalf of residents of the 
State. 
(2) NOTICE
AND
INTERVENTION
BY
THE 
FTC.—The attorney general (or other such officer) 
of a State shall provide prior written notice of any 
action under paragraph (1) to the Commission and 
provide the Commission with a copy of the complaint 
in the action, except in any case in which such prior 
notice is not feasible, in which case the attorney gen-
eral shall serve such notice immediately upon insti-
tuting such action. The Commission shall have the 
right— 
(A) to intervene in the action; 
(B) upon so intervening, to be heard on all 
matters arising therein; and 
(C) to file petitions for appeal. 
(3) LIMITATION ON STATE ACTION WHILE FED-
ERAL ACTION IS PENDING.—If the Commission has 
instituted a civil action for violation of this Act, no 
State attorney general, or official or agency of a 
State, may bring an action under this paragraph 
during the pendency of that action against any de-
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fendant named in the complaint of the Commission 
for any violation of this Act alleged in the complaint. 
(4) RELATIONSHIP WITH STATE LAW CLAIMS.— 
If the attorney general of a State has authority to 
bring an action under State law directed at acts or 
practices that also violate this Act, the attorney gen-
eral may assert the State law claim and a claim 
under this Act in the same civil action. 
SEC. 4. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION, LIMITATIONS, AND NON- 
APPLICATION. 
The following rules of construction, limitations, and 
non-application provision apply to this Act: 
(1) SECURITY-RELATED
FUNCTIONS
NOT
EX-
CLUDED.—For equipment that contains an elec-
tronic security lock or other security-related func-
tion, the original equipment manufacturer shall 
make available to the owner and to independent re-
pair providers, on fair and reasonable terms, any 
special documentation, tools, and parts needed to 
disable the lock or function, and to reset it when dis-
abled in the course of diagnosis, maintenance, or re-
pair of the equipment. Such documentation, tools, 
and parts may be made available to owners and 
independent repair facilities through appropriate se-
cure data release systems. 
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(2) PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS.—Nothing 
in this Act shall be construed to require an original 
equipment manufacturer to divulge a trade secret, as 
defined in section 1839 of title 18, United States 
Code, to an owner or an independent repair provider 
except as necessary to provide documentation, parts, 
and tools on fair and reasonable terms. 
(3) TERMS OF AGREEMENT WITH AUTHORIZED 
REPAIR PROVIDERS.—Notwithstanding any law, rule 
or regulation to the contrary, no provision in this 
Act shall be construed to abrogate, interfere with, 
contradict or alter the terms of any arrangement de-
scribed in section 5(1)(A), including the performance 
or provision of warranty or recall repair work by an 
authorized repair provider on behalf of an original 
equipment manufacturer pursuant to such arrange-
ment, except that any provision in such terms that 
purports to waive, avoid, restrict or limit an OEM’s 
obligations to comply with this Act shall be void and 
unenforceable. 
(4) NON-APPLICATION TO MOTOR VEHICLE OR 
MOTOR
VEHICLE
EQUIPMENT
MANUFACTURERS.— 
Nothing in this Act shall apply to a motor vehicle 
manufacturer, a manufacturer of motor vehicle 
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equipment, or a motor vehicle dealer, acting in that 
capacity. 
(5) NON-APPLICATION TO MANUFACTURERS OF 
MEDICAL DEVICES.—Nothing in this Act shall apply 
to a manufacturer of a medical device, acting in that 
capacity. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act, the following definitions apply: 
(1) The term ‘‘authorized repair provider’’ 
means— 
(A) with respect to an OEM, a person or 
business that is unaffiliated with the OEM and 
that has an arrangement with the OEM for a 
definite or indefinite period in which the OEM 
grants to a person or business license to use a 
trade name, service mark or other proprietary 
identifier for the purposes of offering the serv-
ices of diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of dig-
ital electronic equipment under the name of the 
OEM, or other arrangement with the OEM to 
offer such services on behalf of the OEM; or 
(B) an OEM that offers the services of di-
agnosis, maintenance, or repair of digital elec-
tronic equipment manufactured by it or on its 
behalf, and who does not have an arrangement 
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described in subparagraph (A) with an unaffili-
ated individual or business with respect to pro-
viding such services, shall be considered an au-
thorized repair provider with respect to such 
equipment. 
(2) The term ‘‘digital electronic equipment’’ 
means any product that depends for its functioning, 
in whole or in part, on digital electronics embedded 
in or attached to the product. 
(3) The term ‘‘documentation’’ means any 
manuals, diagrams, reporting output, service code 
descriptions, schematic, or other guidance or other 
information used in effecting the services of diag-
nosis, maintenance, or repair of digital electronic 
equipment. 
(4) The term ‘‘embedded software’’ means any 
programmable instructions provided on firmware de-
livered with digital electronic equipment, or with a 
part for such equipment, for the purposes of equip-
ment operation, including all relevant patches and 
fixes made by the manufacturer of such equipment 
or part for this purpose. 
(5) The term ‘‘fair and reasonable terms’’, with 
respect to a part, tool, or documentation, means at 
costs and terms that are equivalent to the most fa-
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