Autor: Luka Prgomet

Union law establishing physical design and data requirements for products to be placed on the Union market should not be affected unless specifically provided for by this Regulation.

This Regulation is without prejudice to Union and national legal acts providing for the protection of intellectual property rights, including Directives 2001/29/EC (1), 2004/48/EG (2) and (EU) 2019/790 (3) of the European Parliament and of the Council.

This Regulation enables users of connected products to benefit from aftermarket, ancillary and other services based on data collected by sensors embedded in such products, the collection of those data being of potential value in improving the performance of the connected products. It is important to delineate between, on the one hand, markets for the provision of such sensor-equipped connected products and related services and, on the other, markets for unrelated software and content such as textual, audio or audiovisual content often covered by intellectual property rights. As a result, data that such sensor-equipped connected products generate when the user...

It is necessary to lay down rules regarding products that are connected to a related service at the time of the purchase, rent or lease in such a way that its absence would prevent the connected product from performing one or more of its functions, or which is subsequently connected to the product by the manufacturer or a third party to add to or adapt the functionality of the connected product. Such related services involve the exchange of data between the connected product and the service provider and should be understood to be explicitly linked to the operation of the...

The user of a connected product should be understood to be a natural or legal person, such as a business, a consumer or a public sector body, that owns a connected product, has received certain temporary rights, for example by means of a rental or lease agreement, to access or use data obtained from the connected product, or receives related services for the connected product. Those access rights should in no way alter or interfere with the rights of data subjects who may be interacting with a connected product or a related service regarding personal data generated by the connected...

Data literacy refers to the skills, knowledge and understanding that allows users, consumers and businesses, in particular SMEs falling within the scope of this Regulation, to gain awareness of the potential value of the data they generate, produce and share and that they are motivated to offer and provide access to in accordance with relevant legal rules. Data literacy should go beyond learning about tools and technologies and aim to equip and empower citizens and businesses with the ability to benefit from an inclusive and fair data market. The spread of data literacy measures and the introduction of appropriate follow-up...

In practice, not all data generated by connected products or related services are easily accessible to their users and there are often limited possibilities regarding the portability of data generated by products connected to the internet. Users are unable to obtain the data necessary to make use of providers of repair and other services and businesses are unable to launch innovative, convenient and more efficient services. In many sectors, manufacturers are able to determine, through their control of the technical design of the connected products or related services, what data are generated and how they can be accessed, despite having...

Connected products may be designed to make certain data directly accessible from on-device data storage or from a remote server to which the data are communicated. Access to on-device data storage may be enabled via cable-based or wireless local area networks connected to a publicly available electronic communications service or mobile network. The server may be the manufacturer’s own local server capacity or that of a third party or a cloud service provider. Processors as defined in Article 4, point (8), of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 are not considered to act as data holders. However, they can be specifically tasked with...

Where several persons or entities are considered to be users, for example in the case of co-ownership or where an owner, renter or lessee shares rights of data access or use, the design of the connected product or related service, or the relevant interface, should enable each user to have access to the data they generate. Use of connected products that generate data typically requires a user account to be set up. Such an account allows the user to be identified by the data holder, which may be the manufacturer. It can also be used as a means of communication...

Virtual assistants play an increasing role in digitising consumer and professional environments and serve as an easy-to-use interface to play content, obtain information, or activate products connected to the internet. Virtual assistants can act as a single gateway in, for example, a smart home environment and record significant amounts of relevant data on how users interact with products connected to the internet, including those manufactured by other parties, and can replace the use of manufacturer-provided interfaces such as touch screens or smartphone apps. The user may wish to make available such data to third party manufacturers and enable novel smart...