PRINTER'S NO. 1986
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1757
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY HOWARD, KINSEY, BOBACK, DELLOSO, SANCHEZ, WARREN
AND OTTEN, JULY 30, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, JULY 30, 2021
AN ACT
1 Providing for an index relating to diagnosis, maintenance and
2 repair of digital electronic equipment and for enforcement by
3 Attorney General.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Short title.
7 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Repairability
8 Index Act.
9 Section 2. Definitions.
10 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
11 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
12 context clearly indicates otherwise:
13 "Digital electronic equipment." A product that depends, for
14 its functioning, in whole or in part, on digital electronics
15 embedded in or attached to the product.
16 "Original equipment manufacturer." A company that
17 manufactures or contracts another company to manufacture digital
18 electronic equipment.
 1 "Part." A replacement part, either new or used, made
2 available by an original equipment manufacturer for purposes of
3 effecting the services of maintenance or repair of digital
4 electronic equipment manufactured or sold by the original
5 equipment manufacturer.
6 Section 3. Duties of original equipment manufacturers.
7 The following apply:
8 (1) For digital electronic equipment sold or used in
9 this Commonwealth, original equipment manufacturers shall
10 make available, for the purposes of diagnosis and consumer
11 information, a repairability score for the categories listed
12 under paragraph (2). The average repairability score required
13 under paragraph (3) shall be placed on the product packaging
14 by sticker or other printing. Quick response (QR) codes or
15 other codes may be used to guide a consumer to the full
16 repairability information available on the manufacturer's or
17 Attorney General's publicly accessible Internet website as
18 required under section 4.
19 (2) The original equipment manufacturer shall provide a
20 numeric score for each of the following criteria for the
21 digital electronic equipment. The repairability score shall
22 range from 1, least repairable, to 10, most repairable, and
23 shall be based on the ability to conduct maintenance or
24 repair on digital electronic equipment manufactured by, on
25 behalf of, or sold by, the original equipment manufacturer:
26 (i) Duration and availability of technical documents
27 and related advice on the use and maintenance of the
28 digital electronic equipment.
29 (ii) Ease of dismantling, tools required and other
30 characteristics of the fasteners used or other parts.
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 1 (iii) Original equipment manufacturer's estimation
2 of the duration of parts for the product.
3 (iv) The amount of time the original equipment
4 manufacturer plans on manufacturing replacement parts for
5 the digital electronic equipment.
6 (v) Price ratio of replacement parts to the price of
7 new equipment.
8 (vi) Potential to recycle or dispose of the digital
9 electronic equipment.
10 (vii) Expertise required to safely effect the
11 repair.
12 (viii) Any other information deemed necessary by the
13 Attorney General.
14 (3) The original equipment manufacturer shall compile
15 the average repairability score. The average repairability
16 score shall be the average of each score criteria under
17 paragraph (2).
18 (4) The following information shall be included with the
19 repairability scores:
20 (i) Details of the digital electronic equipment:
21 (A) Model number.
22 (B) Manufacturer's suggested retail price
23 (MSRP).
24 (ii) Information on the nature of software updates
25 provided by the original equipment manufacturer.
26 (iii) Potential for a factory reset of the product.
27 (iv) Whether or not remote assistance is available
28 from the original equipment manufacturer and the price
29 charged for providing assistance.
30 (v) Other information deemed necessary by the
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 1 Attorney General.
2 Section 4. Repairability score reporting.
3 Ninety days prior to selling digital electronic equipment in
4 this Commonwealth, an original equipment manufacturer must
5 submit the repairability scores, reasons given for how the
6 equipment meets the scores chosen and information required under
7 section 3 for the digital electronic equipment to the Attorney
8 General. The Attorney General shall post this information on the
9 Office of Attorney General's publicly accessible Internet
10 website.
11 Section 5. Enforcement by Attorney General.
12 The following apply:
13 (1) A violation of this act shall be considered an
14 unlawful practice under the act of December 17, 1968
15 (P.L.1224, No.387), known as the Unfair Trade Practices and
16 Consumer Protection Law. All remedies, penalties and
17 authority granted to the Attorney General by that act shall
18 be available to the Attorney General for the enforcement of
19 this act.
20 (2) The Attorney General is permitted to prosecute an
21 individual who knowingly falsifies information related to
22 this act, submits fraudulent information to the Office of
23 Attorney General related to this act or conspires to mislead
24 consumers.
25 Section 6. Applicability.
26 This act applies to digital electronic equipment sold on or
27 after the effective date of this section.
28 Section 7. Effective date.
29 This act shall take effect in 180 days.
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