The Federal Trade Commission criticizes a proposed right to repair bill in a recent letter to U.S. Rep. John Dingell
(D-Mich.), a ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Council of Fleet Specialists.
The bill entitled "The Motor Vehicle Owner's Right to Repair Act of 2003” would prevent manufacturers from unfairly restricting access to the information and tools necessary to diagnose and repair vehicles. The bill has 115 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 10 co-sponsors in the Senate.
The FTC letter written by commission secretary Donald S. Clark said, “The bill would require the FTC to review potentially massive quantities of documents and software and attempt to resolve highly technical and complex disputes that are beyond the agency’s expertise.”
The FTC, the letter continues, “is a law enforcement agency, not a document screening agency and has no analogous ongoing document review responsibilities in other industries.”
”Effects the letter will have on the pending legislation are unknown. Telephone calls to the bill’s sponsors, Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas), were not returned by press time,” said the council’s special report.