In order to meet the expectations of consumers and ensure a clear-cut and simple legal framework for suppliers of digital content offered on a durable medium, in relation to conformity requirements and remedies available to consumers for non-conformity, this Directive should apply to goods such as DVDs and CDs, incorporating digital content in such a way that the goods function only as a carrier of the digital content.
The Directive should apply to the digital content supplied on a durable medium, independently whether it is sold at a distance or in face-to-face situations, so as to avoid fragmentation between the different distribution channels.
As regards digital content supplied not in exchange for a price but against counter-performance other than money, this Directive should apply only to contracts where the supplier requests and the consumer actively provides data, such as name and e-mail address or photos, directly or indirectly to the supplier for example through individual registration or on the basis of a contract which allows access to consumers’ photos.
This Directive should not apply to situations where the supplier collects data necessary for the digital content to function in conformity with the contract, for example geographical location where necessary for a mobile application to function properly, or for the sole purpose of meeting legal requirements, for instance where the registration of the consumer is required for security and identification purposes by applicable laws.
This Directive should also not apply to situations where the supplier collects information, including personal data, such as the IP address, or other automatically generated information such as information collected and transmitted by a cookie, without the consumer actively supplying it, even if the consumer accepts the cookie. It should also not apply to situations where the consumer is exposed to advertisements exclusively in order to gain access to digital content.
This Directive should apply only to those services whose main subject matter is providing digital content. Therefore, the Directive should not apply to services, which are performed personally by the supplier and where the digital means are only used for access or delivery purposes, such as a translation offered by a person or other professional advice services where only the output of the service is delivered to the consumer by digital means.
Where, under a contract or a bundle of contracts, the supplier offers digital content in combination with other services such as telecommunication services or goods, which do not function merely as a carrier of the digital content, this Directive should only apply to the digital content component of such a bundle. The other elements should be governed by the applicable law.
This Directive (de) should not deal with copyright and other intellectual property related aspects of the supply of digital content. Therefore it should be without prejudice to any rights and obligations according to copyright law and other intellectual property laws.
When applying the rules of this Directive, suppliers should make use of standards, open technical specifications, good practices and codes of conduct, including in relation to the commonly used data format for retrieving the content generated by the user or any other content provided by the consumer, whether established at the international level, the European level or at the level of a specific industry sector. In this context, the Commission may consider the promotion of the development of international and European standards and the drawing up of a code of conduct by trade associations and other representative organisations that could support the uniform implementation of the Directive.