The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is probing farm equipment maker Deere over the company’s repair policies, according to a filing made public on Thursday.
The investigation, authorized on Sept. 2, 2021, focuses on repair restrictions manufacturers place on hardware or software, often referred to by regulators as impeding customers’ “right to repair” the goods they purchase.
The probe was made public through a filing by data analytics company Hargrove & Associates Inc, which sought to quash an FTC subpoena seeking market data submitted to it by members of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
Neither HAI nor AEM is a target of the FTC probe, according to the filing.
A spokesperson for Deere said the company is cooperating with the FTC.
A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment.
The FTC is probing whether Deere violated the Federal Trade Act’s section 5, according to the filing. The law prohibits unfair or deceptive practices affecting commerce, and the FTC has recently used it in a broad array of cases, including against Amazon and pharmacy benefit managers.
Deere already faces lawsuits from U.S. farmers over whether its repair policies violate antitrust law.
The tractor maker signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation last year that would allow farmers to fix their equipment, or go to a third-party repair shop.
Colorado passed a right to repair law last year. While federal right to repair bills have so far failed to pass, the Clean Air Act requires manufacturers to state in user manuals that equipment can be repaired by third parties.
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Alan Barona and Mark Porter)
