Right to Repair and Replaceable Batteries in Pet Tech
Quick answer: Real legislation is pushing electronics toward repairable, replaceable-battery design, but it's genuinely unclear whether it covers pet tech specifically yet. The EU's Batteries Regulation (2023/1542) requires portable batteries in products sold in the EU to generally be user-removable and replaceable, for electronics hitting the market after February 2027 — a broad rule that could plausibly extend to pet tech sold there, though it isn't a pet-tech-specific mandate. Several US states (California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Texas from September 2026) have passed right-to-repair laws for consumer electronics, but whether a small GPS tracker or pet camera counts under each state's specific definition is unclear and worth checking rather than assuming. Today, most GPS trackers and pet cameras still ship with sealed, non-user-replaceable batteries by design, regardless of this legislative trend.
Right-to-repair and replaceable-battery legislation is real and moving in the US and EU right now — but it’s genuinely unclear whether any of it actually reaches small connected pet tech, as opposed to phones, laptops, and major appliances, which are the categories these laws were mostly written around.
The EU: a real, dated battery-replaceability rule, broadly written
The EU’s Batteries Regulation (2023/1542) requires portable batteries incorporated into products sold in the EU market to generally be removable and replaceable by the consumer, applying to electronics entering the market after February 2027. This is written broadly enough as a general product-design rule that it plausibly extends to pet tech sold in the EU, though it wasn’t written with GPS trackers or pet cameras specifically in mind. Separately, the EU’s Right to Repair Directive (2024/1799, taking effect July 31, 2026) lists specific covered product categories for its repair-access requirements — largely major appliances, phones, tablets, electronic displays, and servers — a list that doesn’t clearly name small connected pet devices. The two rules are related but distinct, and neither one is a clean, explicit “pet tech must have a replaceable battery” mandate yet.
The US: real right-to-repair laws, no battery-replaceability requirement
Several US states have passed right-to-repair laws for consumer electronics: California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon have laws in effect, with Texas following in September 2026. These generally require manufacturers to make parts, tools, and repair documentation available, and some states (Colorado, Oregon specifically) additionally ban “parts pairing” — a practice of serializing components so software blocks a third-party repair even with a genuine replacement part. None of this amounts to a battery-replaceability requirement the way the EU’s regulation does, and whether a small pet GPS tracker or camera actually falls under a given state’s specific “consumer electronics” definition isn’t something to assume — it’s worth checking that state’s actual law rather than treating the general right-to-repair trend as automatically covering this product category.
What’s actually true today, regardless of legislation
Right now, most GPS trackers and pet cameras ship with sealed, internal rechargeable batteries that aren’t designed for user replacement — a fact this site has already covered from a different angle in our refurbished pet tech guide, where sealed-battery degradation is exactly why buying one of these devices used or refurbished is a real risk. Pet doors and automatic feeders are the more common exception in this space — many already use standard, user-replaceable batteries (AA, C, or D-cell) as either their normal power source or a backup option, as covered in our power outage guide. This is a real, existing design difference between product categories that has nothing to do with any pending legislation.
Bottom line
Real legislative momentum exists toward more repairable electronics generally, but it’s genuinely unclear whether or when it reaches small pet tech specifically — the EU’s battery rule is broad enough to plausibly apply after February 2027, while current US state laws don’t include a battery-replaceability requirement at all. If a user-replaceable battery matters to you today, check a specific product’s actual design before buying rather than assuming a law already covers it or expecting manufacturers to get ahead of a requirement that isn’t clearly coming for this category yet. When a sealed-battery device does finally die, see our e-waste and battery disposal guide for why it can’t just go in curbside trash or recycling. Some owners aren’t waiting for legislation at all — see our DIY open-source feeder firmware guide for a real community exercising a version of repair rights through custom firmware, in the same gray area this legislation is still working to formalize.
Frequently asked questions
Does the EU actually require pet tech to have a replaceable battery?
Not as a pet-tech-specific rule, but the underlying regulation is broad enough that it could apply. The EU's Batteries Regulation (2023/1542) requires portable batteries in products sold in the EU market to generally be removable and replaceable by the consumer, for electronics entering the market after February 2027 — this is a general product-design rule, not something written specifically for GPS trackers or cameras, but it isn't obviously exempt either. A separate EU Right to Repair Directive (2024/1799, effective July 31, 2026) lists specific covered product categories — largely major appliances, phones, tablets, and servers — that doesn't clearly name small connected devices like pet trackers.
Do any US states require replaceable batteries in electronics?
No — this is worth being direct about. Several US states (California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon, with Texas following in September 2026) have passed right-to-repair laws requiring manufacturers to provide parts, tools, and documentation for consumer electronics repair, and some (Colorado, Oregon) specifically ban "parts pairing" that blocks third-party repairs. None of this amounts to a battery-replaceability mandate the way the EU's regulation does, and whether a small pet GPS tracker or camera falls under a given state's specific "consumer electronics" definition isn't something to assume without checking that state's actual law.
Which pet tech devices are actually designed with replaceable batteries today?
Generally not GPS trackers or cameras — see our [refurbished pet tech guide](/articles/refurbished-secondhand-pet-tech/) for why sealed, non-replaceable rechargeable batteries are the norm across that category currently, which is exactly why battery degradation is such a common concern with those devices. Pet doors and automatic feeders are the more common exception: many run on standard, user-replaceable batteries (AA, C, or D-cell) as either their primary power source or a backup option, as covered in our [power outage guide](/articles/pet-tech-power-outage-battery-backup/) — a genuinely different design approach from the sealed-battery norm in trackers and cameras.
Should I wait for right-to-repair laws before buying pet tech, if battery repairability matters to me?
Not really — the legislative trend is real, but it's not clearly going to reach small pet tech devices specifically, or on a predictable timeline. If a user-replaceable battery genuinely matters to you today, check a specific product's actual design before buying rather than assuming a law will retroactively apply to it or that manufacturers will voluntarily adopt replaceable batteries ahead of a clear legal requirement to.