SENATE BILL 69

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Harold Pope and Elizabeth "Liz" Stefanics

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES; ENACTING THE RIGHT TO REPAIR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ACT; PROVIDING POWERS AND DUTIES; SPECIFYING ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER OBLIGATIONS; SPECIFYING REPAIR PROVIDER DUTIES; ESTABLISHING PROCEDURES FOR DETERMINING VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO REPAIR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ACT; PRESCRIBING PENALTIES.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act".

     SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act:

          A. "authorized service provider" means a person that has an arrangement with an original equipment manufacturer pursuant to which the original equipment manufacturer grants to the person a license to use a trade name, service mark or other proprietary identifier when offering to diagnose, maintain or repair equipment in the name of or on behalf of the original equipment manufacturer. "Authorized service provider" includes an original equipment manufacturer that offers the services of diagnosis, maintenance or repair of its own equipment;

          B. "certifying entity" means a person that engages in evaluating and certifying the technical capabilities and competence of independent repair providers in accordance with standards that the certifying entity or an original equipment manufacturer specifies;

          C. "consumer electronic equipment" means a product that:

                (1) is tangible personal property;

                (2) functions, in whole or in part, on the basis of digital electronics that are embedded within or attached to the product;

                (3) is generally used for personal, family or household purposes;

                (4) is sold, used or supplied in New Mexico; and

                (5) might be, but is not necessarily, capable of attachment to or installation in real property;

          D. "documentation" means a manual, diagram, reporting output, service code description, schematic diagram, security code, password or other guidance or information that enables a person to diagnose, maintain or repair consumer electronic equipment;

          E. "independent repair provider" means a person that engages in the business of diagnosing, maintaining or repairing consumer electronic equipment in New Mexico but is not an authorized service provider and that possesses a valid and unexpired certification from a certifying entity;

          F. "medical device" means an instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in vitro reagent or other similar or related article, including a component, part or accessory, that is:

                (1) recognized in an official compendium;

                (2) intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions or in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in humans or other animals; or

                (3) intended to affect the structure or a function of the human body or the bodies of other animals and that does not achieve its principal intended purposes through chemical action within or on the human body or the bodies of other animals and that is not dependent on being metabolized for achievement of its principal intended purposes;

          G. "original equipment manufacturer" means a person engaged in the business of selling, leasing or otherwise supplying new consumer electronic equipment manufactured by or on behalf of itself;

          H. "owner" means a person that owns or leases consumer electronic equipment purchased or used in New Mexico;

          I. "part" means a new or used replacement component for consumer electronic equipment made available for the purpose of maintaining or repairing consumer electronic equipment;

          J. "parts pairing" means an original equipment manufacturer's practice of using software to identify component parts through a unique identifier;

          K. "repair certification" means evidence that an independent repair provider has the technical and financial capability and competence necessary to repair consumer electronic equipment;

          L. "tool" means software, a hardware implement or an apparatus by means of which a person can diagnose, maintain or repair consumer electronic equipment, including software, or a mechanism that provisions, programs or pairs a new part;

          M. "trade secret" means all forms and types of

financial, business, scientific, technical, economic or

engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes,

methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs or codes,

whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically or in writing if:

                (1) the owner of the information has taken reasonable measures to keep the information secret; and

                (2) the information derives independent economic value, actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily ascertainable through proper means by, another person who can obtain economic value from the disclosure or use of the information; and

          N. "video game console" means a computing device and its components and peripherals that is intended primarily for interactive video games. "Video game console" does not include a general purpose personal computer that has the capability to run video games alongside other computing functions.

     SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER'S OBLIGATIONS REGARDING REPAIR SERVICES.--

          A. An original equipment manufacturer shall make available to an owner or an independent repair provider on fair and reasonable terms all documentation, tools or parts that the original equipment manufacturer makes available to an authorized service provider to diagnose, maintain or repair consumer electronic equipment that the original equipment manufacturer makes or sells and that is sold or used in this state.

          B. For consumer electronic equipment that is manufactured, sold or used in New Mexico after January 1, 2026, an original equipment manufacturer shall not use parts pairing to:

                (1) prevent or inhibit an owner or independent repair provider from installing or enabling the function of an otherwise functional part or a component of consumer electronic equipment;

                (2) reduce the functionality or performance of consumer electronic equipment; or

                (3) cause consumer electronic equipment to display misleading alerts or warnings about unidentified parts that the owner or independent repair provider cannot immediately dismiss.

     SECTION 4. [NEW MATERIAL] FAIR AND REASONABLE TERMS AND COSTS REQUIRED FOR DOCUMENTATION, TOOLS AND PARTS.--Documentation, tools and parts provided by an original equipment manufacturer shall be offered at fair and reasonable terms and costs. The original equipment manufacturer shall:

          A. make documentation available at no charge, except that the original equipment manufacturer may charge for the reasonable and actual costs of preparing, printing and sending all documentation that is requested;

          B. make tools used to diagnose, maintain or repair consumer electronic equipment available at no charge and without impeding access to the tools or the efficient and cost-effective use of the tools, except that the original equipment manufacturer may charge for the reasonable and actual costs of preparing and shipping physical tools;

          C. make parts available directly or through an authorized service provider to an owner or independent repair provider at costs and on terms that are equivalent to the most favorable costs and terms at which the original equipment manufacturer offers the parts to an authorized service provider and that:

                (1) accounts for a discount, rebate, convenient means of delivery, means of enabling fully restored and updated functionality, rights of use or other incentive or preference the original equipment manufacturer offers to an authorized service provider or that imposes an additional cost, burden or impediment on an owner or independent repair provider that the original equipment manufacturer also imposes on an authorized service provider;

                (2) does not impose a substantial condition, obligation or restriction that is not reasonably necessary to enable an owner or independent repair provider to diagnose, maintain and repair consumer electronic equipment that the original equipment manufacturer makes or sells; and

                (3) does not require an owner or independent repair provider to become an authorized service provider; and

          D. make parts available directly or through authorized service providers for sale to owners and independent repair providers without:

                (1) imposing allocation limitations or advertising restrictions on the authorized service provider as retaliation or as a means of hindering the sale of parts; or

                (2) imposing a substantial condition, obligation or restriction not reasonably necessary to enable an owner or independent repair provider to diagnose, maintain or repair consumer electronic equipment that the original equipment manufacturer makes or sells.

     SECTION 5. [NEW MATERIAL] LIMITATIONS OF ACT.--The Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act does not:

          A. require an original equipment manufacturer to disclose a trade secret or license intellectual property, including copyrights or patents, to an independent repair provider or an owner except as necessary to provide on fair and reasonable terms all documentation, tools or parts used to diagnose, maintain or repair consumer electronic equipment;

          B. alter the terms of the agreement between an original equipment manufacturer and an authorized service provider, including the authorized service provider's performance or provision of warranty service or recall repair work on the original equipment manufacturer's behalf pursuant to the agreement; provided, however, that any provision in the agreement that purports to waive, restrict or limit the original equipment manufacturer's compliance with the Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act is void and unenforceable;

          C. impose liability on an original equipment manufacturer for bodily injury or damage to consumer electronic equipment that an independent repair provider or an owner causes while diagnosing, maintaining or repairing the consumer electronic equipment using documentation, tools or parts that the original equipment manufacturer made available before the date of the diagnosis, maintenance or repair; provided, however, that an original equipment manufacturer remains strictly liable for defects in the design or manufacture of the consumer electronic equipment;

          D. require an original equipment manufacturer to make available special documentation, tools or parts that would disable or override, without an owner's authorization, anti- theft or privacy security measures that the owner sets for consumer electronic equipment;

          E. require an original equipment manufacturer to provide to an independent repair provider or an owner a part that the equipment manufacturer no longer makes or no longer provides to authorized service providers;

          F. prohibit parts pairing that reduces the functionality of a battery if a thermal event occurs; or

          G. apply to:

                (1) a person that is engaged in the business of manufacturing or assembling new motor vehicles or is in the business of selling or leasing new motor vehicles and offering the service of diagnosis, maintenance or repair of motor vehicles or motor vehicle engines pursuant to the terms of a franchise agreement or to the person's products or services;

                (2) a product, service or equipment that:

                     (a) has never been available for retail sale to a consumer;

                     (b) is a medical device or a digital electronic product, software or control equipment or a related product manufactured for or service provided for use in diagnosis or monitoring in an acute care hospital, a long-term care facility such as a nursing home or skilled nursing facility, a physician's office, an urgent care center, an outpatient clinic, a home setting where health care is provided by or at the direction of a licensed health care provider or an emergency medical services facility or for use in diagnosis or monitoring at a site where health care is routinely delivered on premises that are not otherwise a health care facility, such as a medical clinic within a school;

                     (c) provides heat, ventilation or air conditioning or recharges refrigerant gases;

                     (d) is a system, mechanism or series of mechanisms that generates, stores or combines generation and storage of electrical energy from solar radiation;

                     (e) is a video game console; or

                     (f) is a system that stores electrical energy for a period of time and transmits the energy after storage, that is interconnected with a transmission or distribution system and that is approved by an electric utility or located on a customer's side of an electric utility meter in accordance with an applicable utility tariff or interconnection agreement;

                (3) a vehicle, an engine, equipment or a power source or a person that engages directly in, or acts for or is subject to the control of another person that engages directly in, manufacturing, assembling, distributing, selling, importing for resale, maintaining, servicing or repairing a vehicle, an engine, equipment or a power source with the characteristics of:

                     (a) an internal combustion engine, including the engine's fuel system or other power sources such as an electric battery or a fuel cell, that is not used in a motor vehicle or in a vehicle used solely for competition or that is not subject to standards of performance for stationary sources or emission standards for new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act;

                     (b) a vehicle or equipment that is not a motor vehicle or a vehicle used solely for competition and is powered by an engine described in Subparagraph (a) of this paragraph, together with all tools, technology, attachments, accessories, components or repair parts for the vehicle, equipment or engine;

                     (c) an internal combustion engine or another power source, including an electric battery or a fuel cell, that is not used in a motor vehicle, in a vehicle used solely for competition or in a vehicle or equipment described in Subparagraph (b) of this paragraph or equipment that is powered by the internal combustion engine or other power source, together with tools, technology, attachments, accessories, components or repair parts for the internal combustion engine, the other power source or the equipment; or

                     (d) an engine or other power source, including an electric battery or a fuel cell, that is used for propulsion or power generation in a maritime environment or a waterway, together with all tools, technology, attachments, accessories, components or repair parts for the engine or the other power source;

                (4) a manufacturer, distributor or dealer of off-road equipment or of tools, technology, attachments, accessories, components or repair parts for off-road equipment, including farm and utility tractors; farm implements and machinery; equipment for forestry, industry, utilities, construction, mining or maintaining a yard, garden or turf; outdoor power equipment and portable generators; vehicles used in marine environments, for sports, recreation and racing; all-terrain vehicles; power tools; and stand-alone or integrated mobile or stationary internal combustion engines or power sources such as generator sets and battery or fuel cell power; or

                (5) electric toothbrushes.

     SECTION 6. [NEW MATERIAL] REPAIR PROVIDER DUTIES.--

          A. Before repairing consumer electronic equipment, an authorized service provider or independent repair provider shall:

                (1) post a notice that:

                     (a) specifies the steps the provider takes to ensure the privacy and the security of the customer's consumer electronic equipment;

                     (b) informs the customer about the customer's rights to privacy pursuant to the laws of this state; and

                     (c) informs the customer about all potential safety concerns about the parts being installed; and

                (2) display all of the provider's repair certifications.

          B. Before repairing consumer electronic equipment, an independent repair provider shall disclose to each customer:

                (1) that the independent repair provider is not an authorized service provider; and

                (2) whether replacement parts the independent repair provider incorporates into repairs are used replacement parts or are replacement parts provided by suppliers other than the original equipment manufacturer.

     SECTION 7. [NEW MATERIAL] DETERMINING VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO REPAIR CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ACT--PRESCRIBING PENALTIES.--

          A. If the attorney general determines in response to a complaint from a consumer that a person has or controls information, documents, physical evidence or other material that is relevant to an investigation of a violation of the Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act, or that could lead to a discovery of relevant information in an investigation of a violation of that act, the attorney general may execute and cause an investigative demand to be served on the person. The investigative demand may require that the person:

                (1) appear and testify under oath at the time and place stated in the investigative demand;

                (2) answer written interrogatories; and

                (3) produce relevant information, documents, physical evidence or other material for examination at the time and place stated in the investigative demand.

          B. An investigative demand pursuant to this section shall be served and enforced as provided in Section 57-12-12 NMSA 1978. Within the earlier of the return date specified in the investigative demand or twenty days after the date on which the investigative demand was served, a person may petition a district court of this state to extend the return date or modify or set aside the investigative demand. The petition shall state good cause, including all privileged material.

          C. Information the attorney general obtains pursuant to this section that is a trade secret is confidential and is not subject to public disclosure.

          D. If the attorney general finds in response to a complaint that a person has violated the Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act, the attorney general may bring a civil action in the first judicial district court to:

                (1) obtain an injunction to restrain the violation; or

                (2) impose a civil penalty of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each day on which the violation continues.

          E. Civil penalties shall be deposited to the credit of the current school fund as provided in Article 12, Section 4 of the constitution of New Mexico.

     SECTION 8. [NEW MATERIAL] ATTORNEY GENERAL REPORT REQUIRED.--The attorney general shall submit not later than December 31, 2028 a report to the governor and legislature that specifies the number and nature of consumer complaints from owners and independent repair providers within the previous two years pertaining to original equipment manufacturers that did not provide upon request documentation, tools, parts or other devices or implements necessary to diagnose, maintain or repair consumer electronic equipment that the original equipment manufacturer makes or sells.

     SECTION 9. APPLICABILITY.--

          A. Except as provided in Subsection B of this section, the provisions of Section 3 of the Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act apply to consumer electronic equipment sold in this state or in use in this state on or after the effective date of that act.

          B. The provisions of Section 3 of the Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act do not apply to:

                (1) a cell phone that was manufactured for the first time and first sold or used in this state before July 1, 2021; or

                (2) consumer electronic equipment other than a cell phone that was manufactured for the first time and first sold or used in this state before July 1, 2015.

     SECTION 10. EFFECTIVE DATE FOR ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.--Section 7 of the Right to Repair Consumer Electronics Act applies to violations of Section 3 of that act that occur on or after July 1, 2027.

     SECTION 11. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2025.

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