It’s another nail in the coffin of consumer hardware startups. In addition to CE and waste issues now comes a requirement for repairability. Only the big guys with departments of clerks can launch a product nowadays.
Can you tell me one example on how this would make the life harder for startups? The mandate is to produce schematics which the startup obviusly would have and to make parts available. both things that any startup would need to consider as their part of the warranty/repair anayway but now they have to make this availble for third parties and not just themselves.