January 28, 2019

The EU Parliament says that, under the draft Directive, people who buy or download music, apps, games or use cloud services will be better protected if a trader fails to supply the content or service or provides a defective one.

These consumer protection rights will apply equally to consumers who provide data in exchange for such content or service and to “paying” consumers alike.

The draft Directive states that:

• in the case of defective digital content or a defective service, if it is not possible to fix it in a reasonable time, the consumer will be entitled to a price reduction or a full reimbursement within 14 days;
• if a defect becomes apparent within one year of the date of supply, it will be presumed that it was pre-existing, without the need for the consumer to prove it (i.e. a reversal of the burden of proof); for continuous supplies, the burden of proof will remain with the trader throughout the contract;
• a guarantee period for one-off supplies cannot be shorter than two years; for continuous supplies it will apply throughout the duration of the contract; and
• for subscriptions to digital content, the trader will only be able to modify the content if it is allowed by the contract, the consumer is given reasonable advance notice and is allowed to terminate the contract within at least 30 days of notice.

MEPs have provisionally closed negotiations on the Digital Content Directive. The agreement should be officially confirmed when a deal is reached on its “twin” proposal, the Sales of Goods Directive, since co-legislators decided to treat them as a package.

The draft text will need to be confirmed by Member States’ ambassadors (Coreper) and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and Legal Affairs committees. It will then be put to a vote by the full House and submitted for approval to the EU Council of Ministers. To read the EU Parliament’s press release in full, click here.