Australia Proposes Amendments to ‘Right to Repair’ Law

On May 22, 2026, the Australian Government released a discussion paper outlining proposals to expand the nation’s “right to repair” framework and opened a public consultation period (with a submission deadline of July 3, 2026).

The discussion paper proposes amending the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Act 2021 (MVIS) to extend the scope of Australia’s “right to repair” to agricultural machinery, while also improving the operation of the existing law. These proposals aim to provide prompt access to repair information, reduce costly downtime during harvest seasons, and prevent unnecessary regulatory compliance burdens.

Key Proposals Regarding the Expansion to Agricultural Machinery

• Include agricultural machinery within the scope of the scheme.
  Note: Agricultural machinery, defined as vehicles with their own automotive power and agricultural implements attached to a vehicle that are built to perform agricultural tasks (such as cultivating land, growing and harvesting crops, or rearing livestock)
• Grant access to repair information to repairers qualified to engage in agricultural operations, and
• Promote the appropriate use of information while prohibiting unauthorized modifications to agricultural machinery.

Key Proposals Regarding Operational Improvements to the MVIS

• Update the handling of safety-related information to reduce regulatory compliance burdens and improve efficiency
• Expand the range of entities eligible to access information to include data aggregators and tool manufacturers
• Extend the scope of required information to electronic logbooks, ensuring repairers can obtain the data necessary to efficiently diagnose and service vehicles
• Increase transparency in the pricing of information, and
• Improve rules concerning information provision windows and statutory timeframes to better align with the operational realities of data providers and repairers.

The Competition and Consumer Amendment Act 2021

Australia’s inaugural legislation regarding the “right to repair” is the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Act 2021 (MVIS). This law ensures that automotive service and repair information is accessible to all automotive repairers and registered training organizations in Australia. It also mandates that manufacturers provide service and repair information to independent repair shops at a price that does not exceed fair market value. The scheme applies to passenger cars and light goods vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 2002 (excluding motorcycles, three-wheeled vehicles, agricultural vehicles, construction vehicles, heavy vehicles, motorhomes, and buses). The law came into effect on July 1, 2022. The Australian Treasury conducted a review of the MVIS in 2025, and the current discussion paper is based on the findings of that review.

Related Links

• Australian Government Media Release:
  https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/andrew-leigh-2025/media-releases/keeping-machinery-moving-when-it-matters-most-right
• Australian Treasury Public Consultation Page (The discussion paper can be downloaded from this URL):
  https://consult.treasury.gov.au/c2026-760808
• Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Act 2021:
  https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2021A00054/asmade/text

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Explanatory Page on the MVIS:
https://www.accc.gov.au/by-industry/cars-and-vehicles/about-the-motor-vehicle-information-scheme