On Feb. 2, 2026, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued guidance reaffirming existing policies that temporarily disabling aspects of an emission control system or components to repair or maintain a nonroad engine is permissible under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

While the EPA’s press release included rhetoric that made it sound like the guidance was changing the game, Brian McGuire, president and CEO of Associated Equipment Distributors, and Daniel Fisher, senior vice president of government affairs, say that the guidance — when you dig down into it — affirms the equipment industry’s stance on right to repair. That is, farmers can repair their equipment but cannot modify it. 

The release from EPA stated:

For years, prominent equipment manufacturers have interpreted the CAA’s emission control anti-tampering provisions as preventing them from making essential repair tools available to all Americans. This has forced farmers to take their equipment exclusively to manufacturer-authorized dealers to be fixed, even though the repair could have been made in the field or at a nearby independent repair shop. Not only has this made repairs more costly, but it has also caused many farmers to opt for older agricultural equipment that lack modern emission controls simply because they can fix that equipment themselves.

 Here is what McGuire and Fisher had to say, which helps clarify the EPA’s statements.

Daniel Fisher: "Really, ultimately, what the guidance did was really reaffirm what AED's position has been all along, that customers have the right to repair their equipment, and if you need to disable the emission systems temporarily to repair it, that's fine, as long as you return it back to compliance with the Clean Air Act. That's essentially what the guidance says, and that's been AED's long time position on this issue."

Brian McGuire: "Yeah. Yeah, so really no change, Kim. Really a clarification of what already existed."

Daniel Fisher: "The Clean Air Act still exists in it's current form and it still would be considered illegal."

Brian McGuire: "That's the reason we issued our statement so that folks understood that there's not a change here. I know that there was some chatter that, oh, we can disable the systems, DEF no longer means anything, and that is absolutely not the case, currently."

Kim Schmidt: "Okay. Anything dealers need to know specifically for how to communicate that to any customers that it comes up with them?"

Brian McGuire: "Yeah, I think the easiest thing for a dealer is just to let the customer know that really nothing has changed. It's probably easiest to say that the EPA just clarified the existing position when you get to the meat of the document they issued after you get through the press release."

Kim Schmidt: "Okay. Okay."

Brian McGuire: "Danny, would you agree with that?"

Daniel Fisher: "No, absolutely. I think, again, our position... generally our dealer's position has been that customers have the right to repair their equipment, and this certainly sustain that position."

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