Right to Repair Digital Electronics Act

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2025 H D HOUSE BILL DRH40498-NH-167 Short Title: Right to Repair Digital Electronics Act. (Public) Sponsors: Representative Longest. Referred to: *DRH40498-NH-167* A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1 AN ACT ESTABLISHING FAIR REPAIR REQUIREMENTS FOR MANUFACTURERS OF 2 DIGITAL ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS. 3 The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 4 SECTION 1. Chapter 75 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article 5 to read: 6 "Article 9. 7 "Fair Repair Requirements Act. 8 "§ 75-150. Definitions. 9 The following definitions apply in this Article: 10 (1) Authorized repair provider. – An oral or written arrangement for a definite or 11 indefinite period in which a manufacturer or distributor transfers to a separate 12 business organization or individual license to use a trade name, service mark, 13 or relative characteristic for the purposes of offering repair services under the 14 name of the manufacturer. 15 (2) Digital electronic product. – A part or machine containing a microprocessor 16 originally manufactured for distribution and sale in the United States. 17 (3) Documentation. – Manuals, diagrams, reporting output, or service code 18 descriptions provided to the authorized repair provider for the purposes of 19 repair. 20 (4) Embedded software. – Programmable instructions provided on firmware 21 delivered with the digital electronic product for the purposes of product 22 operation, including all relevant patches and fixes made by the manufacturer 23 for this purpose, including , but not limited to , "basic internal operating 24 system," "internal operating system," "machine code," "assembly code," "root 25 code," and "microcode." 26 (5) Fair and reasonable terms. – An equitable price in light of relevant factors, 27 including all of the following: 28 a. The net cost to the authorized repair provider for similar parts obtained 29 from manufacturers, less any discounts, rebates, or other incentive 30 programs. 31 b. The cost to the manufacturer for preparing and distributing the parts 32 or product, excluding any research and development costs incurred in 33 designing and implementing, upgrading, or altering the product, but 34 including amortized capital costs for the preparation and distribution 35 of the parts. 36 H.B. 938 Apr 10, 2025 HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERK General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 Page 2 DRH40498-NH-167 c. The price charged by other manufacturers for similar parts or products. 1 (6) Independent repair provider. – An individual or business operating in the State 2 that is not affiliated with a manufacturer or a manufacturer's authorized dealer 3 of a digital electronic product that is engaged in the diagnosis, service, 4 maintenance, or repair of a digital electronic product. A manufacturer 's 5 authorized dealer shall be considered an independent repair provider when the 6 dealer engages in the diagnosis, service, maintenance, or repair of a digital 7 electronic product that is not affiliated with the manufacturer. 8 (7) Manufacturer. – An individual or business who, in the ordinary course of its 9 business, is engaged in the business of selling or leasing new digital electronic 10 products to consumers or other end users and is engaged in the diagnosis, 11 service, maintenance, or repair of that product. 12 (8) Owner. – An individual or business who lawfully acquires a digital electronic 13 product purchased or used in the State. 14 (9) Remote diagnostics. – A remote data transfer function between a digital 15 electronic product and a provider of repair services, including for purposes of 16 diagnostics, settings controls, or location identification. 17 (10) Service parts. – Replacement parts, either new or used, made available by the 18 manufacturer to the authorized repair provider for the purposes of repair. 19 (11) Trade secret. – Anything tangible or intangible or electronically stored or kept 20 that constitutes, represents, evidences, or records intellectual property, 21 including secret or confidentially held designs, processes, procedures, 22 formulas, inventions or improvements or secrets of confidentially held 23 scientific, technical, merchandising, production, financial, business or 24 management information, or anything within the definition of 18 U.S.C. § 25 1839(3). 26 "§ 75-151. Fair repair requirements. 27 (a) Manufacturers of digital electronic products sold or used in this State are required to 28 do all of the following: 29 (1) Make available to independent repair facilities or owners of products 30 manufactured by the manufacturer diagnostic and repair information, 31 including repair technical updates, diagnostic software, service access 32 passwords, updates and corrections to firmware, and related documentation, 33 free of charge and in the same manner the manufacturer makes available to its 34 authorized repair providers. 35 (2) Make available for purchase by the product owner, or the authorized agent of 36 the owner, service parts, including updates to the firmware of the parts, for 37 purchase upon fair and reasonable terms. Nothing in this section requires the 38 manufacturer to sell service parts if the service parts are no longer available 39 to the manufacturer or the authorized repair channel of the manufacturer. 40 (b) Manufacturers that sell diagnostic, service, or repair information to an independent 41 repair provider or a third-party provider in a format that is standardized with other manufacturers, 42 and on terms and conditions more favorable than the manner and the terms and conditions 43 pursuant to which an authorized repair provider obtains the same diagnostic, service, or repair 44 information, are prohibited from requiring an authorized repair provider to continue purchasing 45 diagnostic, service, or repair information in a proprietary format, unless the proprietary format 46 includes diagnostic, service, repair, or dealership operations information or functionality that is 47 not available in a standardized format. 48 (c) Manufacturers of digital electronic products sold or used in th is S tate shall make 49 available for purchase by owners and independent repair facilities all diagnostic repair tools, 50 incorporating the same diagnostic repair and remote diagnostic capabilities that the manufacturer 51 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025 DRH40498-NH-167 Page 3 makes available to its own repair or engineering staff or any authorized repair providers, upon 1 fair and reasonable terms. 2 (d) Manufacturers that provide repair information to aftermarket tool, diagnostics, or 3 third-party service information publications and systems have fully satisfied their obligations 4 under this section and thereafter are not responsible for the content and functionality of 5 aftermarket diagnostic tools or service information systems. 6 (e) Manufacturers of digital electronic products sold or used in the State for the purposes 7 of providing security -related functions may not exclude diagnostic, service, and repair 8 information necessary to reset a security -related electronic function from information provided 9 to owners and independent repair facilities. If necessary for security purposes, manufacturers 10 may provide information necessary to reset and unlock system or security -related electronic 11 modules to owners and independent repair facilities through an appropriate secure data release 12 system. 13 "§ 75-152. No requirement to divulge trade secret. 14 This Article does not require the manufacturer to divulge a trade secret. 15 "§ 75-153. No abrogation of contract. 16 This Article shall not be interpreted or construed to abrogate, interfere with, contradict, or 17 alter the terms of an agreement executed between an authorized repair provider and a 18 manufacturer, including, but not limited to , performing warranty or recall repair work by an 19 authorized repair provider on behalf of a manufacturer pursuant to the authorized repair 20 agreement. Except in the case of a dispute arising between a manufacturer and its authorized 21 repair provider related to either party 's compliance with an existing repair agreement, an 22 authorized repair provider has all of the rights and remedies provided in this section. 23 "§ 75-154. No access to certain information. 24 This Article does not require manufacturers or authorized repair providers to provide an 25 owner or independent repair provider access to nondiagnostic and nonrepair information 26 provided by a manufacturer to an authorized repair provider pursuant to the terms of an 27 authorizing agreement. 28 "§ 75-155. Right to cure. 29 (a) An independent repair provider or owner who believes that a manufacturer has failed 30 to provide information, including documentation, updates to firmware, safety and security 31 corrections, diagnostics, documentation, or a tool required by this section , must notify the 32 manufacturer in writing and give the manufacturer 30 days from the time the manufacturer 33 receives the complaint to cure the failure. If the manufacturer cures the complaint within 30 days, 34 damages are limited to actual damages in any subsequent litigation. 35 (b) If the manufacturer fails to respond to the notice provided in subsection (a) of this 36 section, or if an independent repair facility or owner is not satisfied with the manufacturer's cure, 37 the independent repair facility or owner may file a complaint in district court. The complaint 38 must include all of the following: 39 (1) Written information confirming that the complainant has attempted to acquire 40 and use, through the then-available standard support function provided by the 41 manufacturer, all relevant diagnostics, tools, service parts, documentation, 42 and updates to embedded software, including communication with customer 43 assistance via the manufacturer's then-standard process, if made available by 44 the manufacturer. 45 (2) Evidence of manufacturer notification as required in subsection (a) of this 46 section." 47 SECTION 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 2025. 48