Recital 17

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 connected product’s functions, such as services that, where applicable, transmit commands to the connected product that are able to have an impact on its action or behaviour. Services which do not have an impact on the operation of the connected product and which do not involve the transmitting of data or commands to the connected product by the service provider should not be considered to be related services. Such services could include, for example, auxiliary consulting, analytics or financial services, or regular repair and maintenance. Related services can be offered as part of the purchase, rent or lease contract. Related services could also be provided for products of the same type and users could reasonably expect them to be provided taking into account the nature of the connected product and any public statement made by or on behalf of the seller, rentor, lessor or other persons in previous links of the chain of transactions, including the manufacturer. Those related services may themselves generate data of value to the user independently of the data collection capabilities of the connected product with which they are interconnected. This Regulation should also apply to a related service that is not supplied by the seller, rentor or lessor itself, but which is provided by a third party. In the event of doubt as to whether the service is provided as part of the purchase, rent or lease contract, this Regulation should apply. Neither the power supply, nor the supply of the connectivity are to be interpreted as related services under this Regulation.