EU Data Act Pre-Contract Information

For a connected product, the seller, person renting out the product, or lessor must give the Article 3 product-data information before the purchase, rent, or lease contract is concluded.

For a related service, the provider must give the related-service information before the service contract is concluded. The information must be clear and comprehensible. For connected-product information, Recital 24 says the obligation may be fulfilled through a stable URL distributed as a web link or QR code, provided the user can store the information for future reference and reproduce it unchanged.

The connected-product disclosure should describe the product data the device is capable of generating. A useful version names concrete categories such as sensor readings, operating status, location or movement data, fault codes, environmental readings, user-interface events, battery status, or other product-specific telemetry when those categories apply.

Article 3 also requires information about whether the product can generate data continuously and in real time, whether it stores data on the device or on a remote server, the intended retention period where applicable, and how the user may access, retrieve, or erase the data.

A related service is not every app, cloud account, repair service, or analytics offer around a product. The Commission explains it as a service that makes the connected product behave in a specific manner, such as an app that adjusts product operation.

Before the related-service contract is concluded, the provider must tell the user what product data the prospective data holder expects to obtain, what related-service data will be generated, how much data is expected, how often product data will be collected, how the user can access or retrieve both data sets, how they are stored, and how long they are retained.

The related-service disclosure must identify the prospective data holder by trading name and geographical address, and identify other data processing parties where applicable. It must also give fast and efficient communication means for contacting the prospective data holder.

The user also needs to know whether the prospective data holder expects to use readily available data itself, for which purposes, whether one or more third parties may use the data for purposes agreed with the user, and how the user can request sharing with a third party or end sharing where applicable.

Article 3 disclosures should be specific enough for the user to understand what they can later access, but they should not promise access to data that is outside the Data Act access regime.

The Commission explainer states that Chapter II covers raw and pre-processed data generated from use of a connected product or related service that is readily available to the data holder, including relevant metadata. Inferred or derived data and protected content are described as out of scope unless another agreement or rule applies.

The related-service disclosure must tell the user about the right to lodge a complaint alleging an infringement of Chapter II with the competent authority designated under Article 37.

It must also state whether the prospective data holder is the holder of trade secrets in the accessible or generated data. If the prospective data holder is not the trade secret holder, the disclosure must identify the trade secret holder. The same disclosure set must include the duration of the user-data-holder contract and termination arrangements.

The evidence record should prove what the user saw before contracting and why the data facts were accurate at that time. It should connect customer-facing wording to the product architecture, service logs, API behavior, retention settings, and contracts.

Article 3 specifies the information to provide but does not prescribe this evidence pack. Keeping it is a practical control for release review, sales and ecommerce checks, user disputes, competent-authority questions, and later updates when product data, related-service data, access methods, or retention arrangements change.