Apple Inc.-backed AAPL Right to Repair bill is now a law in California after Governor Gavin Newsom officially signed the SB 244 bill on Tuesday (Oct. 10). While California is the third state after Minnesota and New York to legislate Right to Repair, it has far-reaching consequences for everyone, including companies and consumers.
What Happened: Governor Gavin Newson signed SB 244, or the Right to Repair Act into law that makes it easier than ever before for owners to repair their own devices at third-party repair shops, instead of sending in their devices to companies.
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Although California is not the first state to sign the Right to Repair into law, its provisions are stronger when it comes to reinforcing the rights of consumers.
For instance, if a product costs over $100, manufacturers will have to make the repair parts available for seven years from the production date.
For products that cost less than $100, the parts availability period has been set at three years.
Any company that fails to follow these rules will be fined $1,000 per day for the first violation, $2,000 per day for the second, and subsequently, any further violations will attract a $5,000 per day fine.
The rules go into effect from July 1, 2024.
Why It Matters: The Right to Repair Act ensures that consumers get more choices when they want to get their devices repaired. For a long time, Apple was opposed to the bill, but eventually supported it saying it protects both consumers as well as the intellectual property of companies.
"We should make stuff that lasts and be able to fix our stuff when it breaks, and now thanks to years of advocacy, Californians will finally be able to, with the Right to Repair," said Jenn Engstrom of CALPIRG, a public interest advocacy group.
Apart from the cost savings, repairing devices is also more environmentally friendly than replacing them. The increasing popularity of the Right to Repair movement has also pushed companies like Alphabet Inc.'s GOOG GOOGL Google to provide industry-leading seven years of software updates and support for its latest phones, the Pixel 8 series.
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