The Week in Repair: March 13-19
Senate to debate Fair Repair Act. EU Parliament passes repair resolution. Also: the case for repairable broadband.
Here are the top right to repair stories from the week of March 13 through March 19. Like what you’re reading? Sign up for our daily right to repair alerts!
🥊 Fair Repair Act Debates to Begin in Senate
The Fair Repair Act of 2022 aims to set up an environment for "right to repair." Senators Ray Lujan, Cynthia Lummis, and Ron Wyden have described the bill as "[leveling] the playing field by ensuring that manufacturers do not lock out owners and independent service providers from providing repairs by denying access to parts, tools, and documentation." (appleinsider.com)
Here's what others are saying:
“Right to repair is about more than just guaranteeing a legal right under the law; it is also about making sure that consumers can exercise that right. This bill helps consumers obtain what they need to perform repairs and access competitive repair services." – Kathleen Burke, Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge (publicknowledge.org)
"It's time to remove manufacturer-imposed barriers to repair and get back to fixing things like we've always done. We are proud to support this bipartisan, pro-environment, pro-consumer and pro-small business bill." – Nathan Proctor, Senior Right to Repair Campaign Director at U.S. PIRG (uspirg.org)
🏛️ Big Changes to DOJ Antitrust Enforcement Expected
Jonathan Kanter, the Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division, recently laid out the areas where he perceives shortcomings in antitrust enforcement.
Kanter stated that the Division has failed to adequately address certain areas of antitrust enforcement. He noted that it has been almost 20 years since the Division’s last major monopolization case. Under his guidance, the Antitrust Division intends to:
Take a more aggressive stance on vertical merger enforcement
Reformulate merger guidelines
Litigate cases to generate judicial opinions
Bring more civil and criminal conduct cases forward
🇪🇺 European Parliament Passes Repair Resolution
A draft resolution on the right to repair is due to be voted on by MEPs in April. Parliament has stressed in several instances the importance of the right to repair for consumers as a key pillar of the Circular Economy agenda in the framework of the EU Green Deal. The Commission announced that it is considering to present a separate legislative proposal on the right to repair during the third quarter of 2022. The key components of the resolution include:
A focus on the design of products, so that they last longer (and can be fixed) as well as labeling to better inform consumers and extending guarantee rights.
Ensuring greater access to repair services
Incentives for consumers to choose repair over replacement
Weekend Read: The Case for Repairable Broadband
After a bolt of lightning hit this reporter's house, the struggle to repair their own broadband ended up being more than they bargained for.
"A broadband network designed to favor uptime and repairability means that pretty much everyone should be able to fix almost anything that goes wrong – or can feel confident they can ask a more knowledgeable neighbor to have a look in."
Read the full piece at The Register
📗 New Book on The Right To Repair
A new book titled The Right to Repair (available now), authored by legal expert Aaron Perzanowski, explores the history of repair to show how we've arrived at this moment, when a battle over repair is being waged - largely unnoticed - in courtrooms, legislatures, and administrative agencies.
Learn more about the book here:
UK Watchdog Receives Pushback from Apple & Google – Policy Changes Far From a Reality
Apple and Google have defended their business practices in letters to the UK Competition & Markets Authority, while rival companies and third-party developers continue to push for mobile market reforms. The competition watchdog's preliminary findings, detailed in its interim report, suggest the CMA believes market interventions are necessary to curtail the power that Apple and Google have over their respective ecosystems.
The CMA's final report is due to be published on June 14. The conclusions of the report will not necessarily change anything, but will provide the UK's recently formed Digital Markets Unit and other interested lawmakers with regulatory guidance. Maybe something will come of it. (theregister.com)
🎥 WATCH: Montana Farmer's Union joins in the fight to repair
"Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act" Reintroduced
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Mondaire Jones (NY-17) introduced the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022. This legislation would prohibit mega-mergers in the United States, and allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) to review and undo past mergers if they do not meet the new standard. (ilsr.org)
🇪🇺 EU, UK launch antitrust probes of Google and Meta’s ‘Jedi Blue’ agreement
The European Commission and the U.K.’s competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, are launching parallel antitrust probes of the Jedi Blue agreement. Regulators are concerned that the agreement may have reduced competition in the advertising technology market, where Meta and Google are the two largest players.
“We’re concerned that Google may have teamed up with Meta to put obstacles in the way of competitors who provide important online display advertising services to publishers,” stated Competition and Markets Authority Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli. (siliconangle.com)
🔋 The European Parliament calls for removable and replaceable batteries
The European Parliament voted in favor of making batteries more sustainable including making them removable and replaceable. They adopted an ambitious position on the issue of removability and replaceability of batteries, a key aspect to extend the lifetime of electronic products sold in Europe. This doesn’t mean user replaceable batteries anytime soon though as this only represents the Parliament’s position and the battle for a final, ambitious regulation with the Council still needs to happen. (repair.eu)
⚖️ House refers Amazon to DOJ for 'potential criminal conduct'
Amazon and some of its senior executives could potentially face investigation from the Department of Justice after the House of Representative's Judiciary committee alerted the agency to "potential criminal conduct," including obstruction of Congress.
Specifically, the committee alleges that executives lied about the company's use of seller data and "manipulation of consumers' search results" during a House investigation into the market dominance of technology giants. (retaildive.com)
My transition from Windows to Linux in an anti-customer age
Linux is getting closer to a real alternative to Windows and it’s about time as more and more companies move to anti-competitive practices, harming public trust and individual choice. In the long run, the products we use should be in our control and not the other way around. Do what you can to make it harder for shady companies like Microsoft to dominate markets and support the end of creative monopolies. (scottrlarson.com)
Other Repair News...
🎧 Podcast: How Monopoly Energy Utilities Impede Innovation (ilsr.org)
Reviving Bank Antitrust (clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu)
Farmers seek 'right to repair' (newspressnow.com)
Tackling greenwashing: Government urged to develop formal definitions for jargon like 'carbon-neutral' (edie.net)
Exxon Mobil Loses Appeal To Stop Climate Change Probes (reuters.com)
Another modular computer is in production (screenrant.com)
How the EU is fighting tech giants with Margrethe Vestager (theverge.com)