What regulates a repair website
Four things. Consumer law on the quality of the repair, estimates and what a guarantee may claim. Advertising rules on how you describe parts, approvals and results. Data protection, which bites harder here than in most trades because repairers hold customers' devices. And the ordinary website duties: company details, cookies, accessibility. Some sub-types add a licensing regime of their own.
This is orientation rather than legal advice. Your trade body, your regulator and a local adviser are the authorities.
United Kingdom
Consumer law. The Consumer Rights Act covers services supplied with reasonable care and skill, which a repair is. A guarantee you offer sits on top of statutory rights, not instead of them, and saying so on the warranty page is standard practice. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 cover misleading claims and pricing practices, and the Advertising Standards Authority looks at both. Prices shown to consumers should include VAT.
Parts and approvals. Describing yourself as an authorised or approved repairer for a brand when you are not is a trading standards matter. Where you fit non-original parts, say so.
Data. UK GDPR and PECR. A repairer handling a phone or a laptop is processing personal data on someone else's behalf in practice, so a plain statement about what is accessed, who accesses it, and what happens to a device that cannot be returned belongs on the site. Marketing texts and emails need the right basis and an opt-out.
Other. Company registration details on the site. Right to repair regulations affect access to spare parts for certain appliances, which matters to an appliance repair business, and hallmarking law applies to precious metal work at a jewellery repairer. Equality Act and WCAG 2.1 AA for accessibility.
United States
Consumer law. The FTC on deceptive advertising. State consumer protection acts, several of which require a written estimate and authorisation before exceeding it for certain repair trades. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act means a manufacturer generally cannot void a warranty simply because an independent did the work, subject to conditions, which independent repairers may state carefully. Several states have passed right to repair legislation covering access to parts and documentation, with the detail varying widely.
Licensing. Mostly state level and limited. Some states register electronics or appliance repair businesses, and many regulate secondhand dealing where you buy or sell used devices.
Data and marketing. State privacy laws where you meet the thresholds. The TCPA governs marketing texts and automated messages, so consent capture inside your booking software matters.
Accessibility. The ADA applied to websites through litigation; WCAG 2.1 AA is the working standard.
Canada
Consumer law. Provincial. Ontario's and Quebec's consumer protection acts both contain estimate rules for repairs, with Quebec requiring a written estimate before work in defined situations and limiting charges above it. Quebec is also strict on advertising and legal warranty, has legislated on repairability, and requires French on a website serving Quebec.
Data and marketing. PIPEDA, Quebec's Law 25, and CASL for commercial electronic messages, which requires consent and an unsubscribe on emails and texts.
Accessibility. AODA in Ontario, the Accessible Canada Act federally.
Australia
Consumer law. The Australian Consumer Law is the centre of it. Consumer guarantees apply to repair services; the repairer notice requirements for goods left for repair are specific, covering what must be told to a customer about data loss and about refurbished parts before the work; and prices quoted to consumers as a single figure must be the total including GST. Misleading claims about parts or approvals fall under the same act.
Business details. ABN, and ACN for companies.
Data and marketing. The Privacy Act above the threshold, with a privacy policy expected whenever forms collect personal data, and the Spam Act on email and SMS.
Accessibility. The Disability Discrimination Act, with WCAG 2.1 AA the standard.
European Union
Consumer law. The Consumer Rights Directive and the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive as implemented nationally, with prices to consumers inclusive of VAT. The 2024 directive promoting the repair of goods, and ecodesign rules on spare parts for appliances, shape what an independent repairer can access. Some member states run repair incentive schemes, worth naming where you take part.
Company details. The e-commerce information duties, with the German and Austrian Impressum being the strict version: legal name, address, contact, registration and VAT number.
Data. GDPR, with the ePrivacy rules for cookies and electronic marketing. A repairer handling devices should document what is accessed and for how long records are kept.
Accessibility. The European Accessibility Act, in force from June 2025 for many private digital services above the micro-enterprise threshold.
The same everywhere
- Say that a guarantee is in addition to statutory rights.
- Do not claim a brand approval, certification or authorised status you do not hold.
- Name parts grades honestly, including refurbished and non-original parts, before the work.
- State the estimate or diagnostic fee, and get authorisation before exceeding it.
- Publish a plain statement on data held in devices you repair.
- Get consent properly for marketing messages and keep an opt-out in every one.
- Publish company details, a privacy notice and an accessibility statement, and build to WCAG 2.1 AA.
Sub-types with extra load
An IT support provider carries the heaviest data obligations, because it processes client data continuously rather than device by device. A jewellery repairer carries hallmarking rules. A phone and computer repair shop carries the device data statement and secondhand dealing rules where it trades in used stock. An electronics repair specialist taking mail-in work adds distance selling and cancellation rules.
Where this sits
Every repair business website we build runs through a country checklist at the content stage: guarantee wording against statutory rights, parts and approval claims, estimate and diagnostic fee statements, the device data promise, marketing consent, company details, privacy and accessibility. The warranty and parts page and the plain data statement satisfy most of it, which is one reason both go on every repair site from launch.