Apple Supports Bill On Rights To Reparation In The US And Shares Improved Information

Apple now supports repairs in unofficial workshops. (photol: dock. pexels)

Apple, the world's largest technology company, announced on Tuesday 24 October that it will support the bill on reparatory rights in the US. This comes after several years of receiving complaints from consumer advocacy groups that their advanced devices are difficult and expensive to fix.

The announcement is part of a broader push by US President Joe Biden to promote competition and address additional costs that increase prices for consumers.

On Tuesday, Apple also announced that it will make the spare parts, tools, and documents needed to repair their iPhones and computers available for independent repair workshops and consumers across the country. This is a step that can help encourage other companies to follow in the same footsteps.

"The practices of restrictions used across the industry have increased costs for consumers, hampered innovation, closed business opportunities for independent repair workshops, and created unnecessary e-waste," said Federal Trade Commission chairman Lina Khan, quoted by VOI from Reuters.

"We've heard from healthcare workers and hospitals worried that they won't be able to repair the ventilator as manufacturers are trying to refuse access to fix it," Khan said.

Apple's decision to support federal legislation and to allow independent repair workshops to repair their products is part of the years shift towards promotion of their lifetimes and resale value of their devices, while making it easier to repair and access spare parts.

The company began distributing spare parts and guidance to several independent repair workshops in 2019. In August, Apple also supported repair rights regulations in its home country, California, requiring companies to provide access to repair workshops and consumers to spare parts, tools, and guidelines needed for repairs - at reasonable and fair prices.

"We intend to comply with California's new repair provisions across the United States," said Brian Naumann, Apple's Vice President of Services and Operations, at an event at the White House. "Apple also believes that consumers and businesses will benefit from a balanced national law between improvements with product integrity, utility, and physical safety."

Director of the National Economic Council, Lael Brainard, praised Apple's decision and invited Congress to pass national laws. California, Colorado, New York and Minnesota have passed their own reparasion rights laws. Thirty other states have proposed similar legislation.

Brainard said commitments from private companies such as Apple could lower costs for consumers and reduce unnecessary electronic waste in landfills.

Fixing consumer electronic devices could save American consumers $49.6 billion per year, Brainard said, and reduce nearly 7 million tonnes of annual e-waste in the United States, while improving small independent repair workshops.

Although Apple has been providing spare parts to repair workshops since 2019, the California Bill also requires them to provide diagnostic tools. Apple says it plans to follow the same national model as they do in California.

But some consumer advocates responded to the news this Tuesday restlessly because Apple's support for past improvements often came with notes.

Nathanchand, who is leading the reparation rights campaign effort for an advocacy group called the US PIRG, said its group would follow the details of emerging federal laws.

"Everything will depend on people's experience in the real world - that's what we care about," Timeless said. "We will continue to monitor Apple and other companies."