Canada has made a significant step towards right to repair, but challenges remain…
Canada is the first country in North America to enact a federal law that allows right to repair, whilst also protecting the consumer or third-party repair shop from copyright infringement violations.
What is Right to Repair?
Consumer choice and sustainability are at the heart of right to repair. If a consumer needs to diagnose a problem or repair a product they have purchased, they currently have to go to the product’s manufacturer or authorized repair facility, and if needed, use OEM parts. Many manufacturers use tools like software, registration keys, or physical objects like a dongle to create a type of digital lock that blocks access to copyrighted material ensuring only authorized facilities can make repairs. It’s as if the manufacturer of an electronic device still retains some control over a product even after a consumer buys it. Right to repair laws allow limited access to copyrighted materials, tools, and the use of third-party parts allowing customers or third-party repair facilities to diagnose, maintain and make repairs themselves, bypassing the product manufacturer.
New Canadian laws open the door to Right to Repair
Two recently enacted laws open the door to right to repair, by amending Canada’s robust Copyright Act law.
- C-244 addresses repairability. This law allows consumers and third-party repair facilities to bypass digital protection to diagnose, maintain and repair products.
- C-294 addresses interoperability. This law allows different technologies to work together (e.g. a non OEM part).
Both laws shield customers and third-party repair facilities from copyright violation penalties.
What’s the challenge?
While the amendments to the Copyright Act allow customers to make or have a third-party repair facility make repairs, they do not require manufacturers to enable such work. They do not provide protection for sharing copyrighted information or require its disclosure.
This means that a customer may try to diagnose, maintain, or repair the product they purchase without fear of copyright infringement penalties, if they can figure out how. If they do, they can’t tell anyone else how to do it.
Neither the Copyright Act nor the amendments do anything to expand access to tools needed to conduct diagnostic or repair work, to documentation, or to parts. Sharing or distributing tools that circumvent digital locks remains illegal. This makes right to repair a wish and not reality for most customers. More legislation is needed to establish manufacturer right to repair enabling obligations.
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cglobal-sales@erpsas.onmicrosoft.com
Published March 6, 2025
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