> Any natural or legal person that places on the market products incorporating portable batteries or LMT batteries shall ensure that those batteries are available as spare parts of the equipment that they power for a minimum of five years after placing the last unit of the equipment model on the market, with a reasonable and non-discriminatory price for independent professionals and end-users.
That seems like a big loop hole: have all repairs done by TimWillFix, which charges the same cost to everybody, including Apple. Apple owns TimWillFix. Done. Prices are non-discriminary and independents get shafted.
It's not about repairs in general and not about independents, it's about replacement batteries. It requires that replacement batteries be easy to replace by the user, and replacement batteries be sold for a reasonable price for at least 5 years. If Apple creates a subsidiary that keeps their batteries in production, more power to them.
The law does not allow that. They must be available at a reasonable price for "for independent professionals and end-users". Several of relatively small number of exceptions to user replaceable batteries still require that independent professionals be able to replace the battery.
