RIGHT TO REPAIR

We acknowledge that the digital right to repair is an important issue within our industry. One that other groups have focused on with limited success and that hundreds of individuals have been fighting for over many years. We support the concept of right to repair and seek to level the playing field for our members. However, we find that an abrasive attack policy is non-productive for everyone involved. We seek to open repair markets for our members by working with equipment manufacturers all over the world who are interested in a fair market. As such, we will work non-stop to further these efforts for our members.

Therefore, the TCA approach to right to repair will take a much different path than that of the current political movement that is seeking to enact laws in one or more statehouses across the country. We find that this method is very expensive and requires a much more organized approach to go head-to-head with equipment manufacturers with deep pockets and legions of lobbyists. While a David vs Goliath or rebels vs empire theme is fun to promote the reality of this movement will require a great deal of capital and a fulltime organized effort to make a right to repair law into a reality.

At this time, we choose not to actively participate in the right to repair political movement, but instead work to educate consumers and businesses on the availability of repair and the importance of fair-trade practices that the right to repair movement promotes. We are committed to working with big tech companies to establish ethical business practices that are fair to the entire tech care industry. We also plan to engage with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to advocate for existing laws to be enforced and unfair competitive practices to be ended. Should our efforts fall on deaf ears we will use the collective power of our industry to lobby the government powers that be to persuade big tech companies to comply with existing laws and only then to pursue new laws to benefit our industry.