Pennsylvania 2025 2025-2026 Regular Session

Pennsylvania House Bill HB386 Introduced / Bill

                     
PRINTER'S NO. 351 
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL 
No.386 
Session of 
2025 
INTRODUCED BY HOWARD, HILL-EVANS, OTTEN, SANCHEZ, STEELE AND 
MADDEN, JANUARY 28, 2025 
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER PROTECTION, TECHNOLOGY AND 
UTILITIES, JANUARY 28, 2025 
AN ACT
Providing for an index relating to diagnosis, maintenance and 
repair of digital electronic equipment and for enforcement by 
Attorney General.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1.  Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Repairability 
Index Act.
Section 2.  Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall 
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the 
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Digital electronic equipment."  A product that depends, for 
its functioning, in whole or in part, on digital electronics 
embedded in or attached to the product.
"Original equipment manufacturer."  A company that 
manufactures or contracts another company to manufacture digital 
electronic equipment.
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18 "Part."  A replacement part, either new or used, made 
available by an original equipment manufacturer for purposes of 
effecting the services of maintenance or repair of digital 
electronic equipment manufactured or sold by the original 
equipment manufacturer.
Section 3.  Duties of original equipment manufacturers.
The following apply:
(1)  For digital electronic equipment sold or used in 
this Commonwealth, original equipment manufacturers shall 
make available, for the purposes of diagnosis and consumer 
information, a repairability score for the categories listed 
under paragraph (2). The average repairability score required 
under paragraph (3) shall be placed on the product packaging 
by sticker or other printing. Quick response codes or other 
codes may be used to guide a consumer to the full 
repairability information available on the manufacturer's or 
Attorney General's publicly accessible Internet website as 
required under section 4.
(2)  The original equipment manufacturer shall provide a 
numeric score for each of the following criteria for the 
digital electronic equipment. The repairability score shall 
range from 1, least repairable, to 10, most repairable, and 
shall be based on the ability to conduct maintenance or 
repair on digital electronic equipment manufactured by, on 
behalf of or sold by the original equipment manufacturer:
(i)  Duration and availability of technical documents 
and related advice on the use and maintenance of the 
digital electronic equipment.
(ii)  Ease of dismantling, tools required and other 
characteristics of the fasteners used or other parts.
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30 (iii)  Original equipment manufacturer's estimation 
of the duration of parts for the product.
(iv)  The amount of time the original equipment 
manufacturer plans on manufacturing replacement parts for 
the digital electronic equipment.
(v)  Price ratio of replacement parts to the price of 
new equipment.
(vi)  Potential to recycle or dispose of the digital 
electronic equipment.
(vii)  Expertise required to safely effect the 
repair.
(viii)  Any other information deemed necessary by the 
Attorney General.
(3)  The original equipment manufacturer shall compile 
the average repairability score. The average repairability 
score shall be the average of each score criteria under 
paragraph (2).
(4)  The following information shall be included with the 
repairability scores:
(i)  Details of the digital electronic equipment:
(A)  Model number.
(B)  Manufacturer's suggested retail price.
(ii)  Information on the nature of software updates 
provided by the original equipment manufacturer.
(iii)  Potential for a factory reset of the product.
(iv)  Whether or not remote assistance is available 
from the original equipment manufacturer and the price 
charged for providing assistance.
(v)  Other information deemed necessary by the 
Attorney General.
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30 Section 4.  Repairability score reporting.
Ninety days prior to selling digital electronic equipment in 
this Commonwealth, an original equipment manufacturer must 
submit the repairability scores, reasons given for how the 
equipment meets the scores chosen and information required under 
section 3 for the digital electronic equipment to the Attorney 
General. The Attorney General shall post this information on the 
Office of Attorney General's publicly accessible Internet 
website.
Section 5.  Enforcement by Attorney General.
The following apply:
(1)  A violation of this act shall be considered an 
unlawful practice under the act of December 17, 1968 
(P.L.1224, No.387), known as the Unfair Trade Practices and 
Consumer Protection Law. All remedies, penalties and 
authority granted to the Attorney General by that act shall 
be available to the Attorney General for the enforcement of 
this act.
(2)  The Attorney General is permitted to prosecute an 
individual who knowingly falsifies information related to 
this act, submits fraudulent information to the Office of 
Attorney General related to this act or conspires to mislead 
consumers.
Section 6.  Applicability.
This act applies to digital electronic equipment sold on or 
after the effective date of this section.
Section 7.  Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 180 days.
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