Article 1 Subject matter

Cybersecurity is one of the key challenges for the Union. The number and variety of connected devices will rise exponentially in the coming years. Cyberattacks represent a matter of public interest as they have a critical impact not only on the Union’s economy, but also on democracy as well as consumer safety and health. It is therefore necessary to strengthen the Union’s approach to cybersecurity, address cyber resilience at Union level and improve the functioning of the internal market by laying down a uniform legal framework for essential cybersecurity requirements for placing products with digital elements on the Union market. Two major problems adding costs for users and society should be addressed: a low level of cybersecurity of products with digital elements, reflected by widespread vulnerabilities and the insufficient and inconsistent provision of security updates to address them, and an insufficient understanding and access to information by users, preventing them from choosing products with adequate cybersecurity properties or using them in a secure manner.

This Regulation aims to set the boundary conditions for the development of secure products with digital elements by ensuring that hardware and software products are placed on the market with fewer vulnerabilities and that manufacturers take security seriously throughout a product’s lifecycle. It also aims to create conditions allowing users to take cybersecurity into account when selecting and using products with digital elements, for example by improving transparency with regard to the support period for products with digital elements made available on the market.

Relevant Union law in force comprises several sets of horizontal rules that address certain aspects linked to cybersecurity from different angles, including measures to improve the security of the digital supply chain. However, existing Union law related to cybersecurity, including Regulation (EU) 2019/881 of the European Parliament and of the Council(³) and Directive (EU) 2022/2555 of the European Parliament and of the Council(⁴), does not directly cover mandatory requirements for the security of products with digital elements.

Under certain conditions, all products with digital elements integrated in or connected to a larger electronic information system can serve as an attack vector for malicious actors. As a result, even hardware and software considered to be less critical can facilitate the initial compromise of a device or network, enabling malicious actors to gain privileged access to a system or to move laterally across systems. Manufacturers should therefore ensure that all products with digital elements are designed and developed in accordance with the essential cybersecurity requirements laid down in this Regulation. That obligation relates to both products that can be connected physically via hardware interfaces and products that are connected logically, such as via network sockets, pipes, files, application programming interfaces or any other types of software interface. As cyber threats can propagate through various products with digital elements before reaching a certain target, for example by chaining together multiple vulnerability exploits, manufacturers should also ensure the cybersecurity of products with digital elements that are only indirectly connected to other devices or networks.

This Regulation applies to economic operators only in relation to products with digital elements made available on the market, hence supplied for distribution or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity. Supply in the course of a commercial activity might be characterised not only by charging a price for a product with digital elements, but also by charging a price for technical support services where this does not serve only the recuperation of actual costs, by an intention to monetise, for instance by providing a software platform through which the manufacturer monetises other services, by requiring as a condition for use the processing of personal data for reasons other than exclusively for improving the security, compatibility or interoperability of the software, or by accepting donations exceeding the costs associated with the design, development and provision of a product with digital elements. Accepting donations without the intention of making a profit should not be considered to be a commercial activity.

Products with digital elements provided as part of the delivery of a service for which a fee is charged solely to recover the actual costs directly related to the operation of that service, such as may be the case with certain products with digital elements provided by public administration entities, should not be considered on those grounds alone to be a commercial activity for the purposes of this Regulation. Furthermore, products with digital elements which are developed or modified by a public administration entity exclusively for its own use should not be considered to be made available on the market within the meaning of this Regulation.

While the creation of tangible products with digital elements usually requires manufacturers to make substantial efforts throughout the design, development and production phases, the creation of products with digital elements in the form of software almost exclusively focuses on design and development, while the production phase plays a minor role. Nonetheless, in many cases software products still need to be compiled, built, packaged, made available for download or copied onto physical media before being placed on the market. Those activities should be considered to be activities amounting to production when applying the relevant conformity assessment modules to verify the compliance of the product with the essential cybersecurity requirements set out in this Regulation across the design, development and production phases.