keyboard_tab Contratti digitali 2019/0770 EN

(5) Consumers are not always confident when buying cross border and especially when it is done online.

  One of the major factors for consumers' lack of confidence is uncertainty about their key contractual rights and the lack of a clear contractual framework for digital_content or digital_services.

  Many consumers experience problems related to the quality of, or access to, digital_content or digital_services.

  For instance, they receive wrong or faulty digital_content or digital_services, or they are not able to access the digital_content or digital_service in question.

  As a result, consumers suffer financial and non-financial detriment.

(6) In order to remedy such problems, both businesses and consumers should be able to rely on fully harmonised contractual rights in certain core areas concerning the supply of digital_content or digital_services across the Union.

  Full harmonisation of some key regulatory aspects would considerably increase legal certainty for consumers and businesses.

(7) Harmonised consumer contract law rules in all Member States would make it easier for businesses, especially SMEs, to supply digital_content or digital_services across the Union.

  They would provide businesses with a stable contract law environment when supplying digital_content or digital_services in other Member States.

  They would also prevent legal fragmentation that otherwise would arise from new national legislation regulating specifically digital_content and digital_services.

(8) Consumers should benefit from harmonised rights for the supply of digital_content and digital_services that provide a high level of protection.

  They should have clear mandatory rights when they receive or access digital_content or digital_services from anywhere in the Union.

  Having such rights should increase their confidence in acquiring digital_content or digital_services.

  It should also contribute to reducing the detriment consumers currently suffer, since there would be a set of clear rights that will enable them to address problems they face with digital_content or digital_services.

(20) This Directive and Directive (EU) 2019/771 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) should complement each other.

  While this Directive lays down rules on certain requirements concerning contracts for the supply of digital_content or digital_services, Directive (EU) 2019/771 lays down rules on certain requirements concerning contracts for the sale of goods.

  Accordingly, in order to meet the expectations of consumers and ensure a clear-cut and simple legal framework for traders of digital_content, this Directive should also apply to digital_content which is supplied on a tangible medium, such as DVDs, CDs, USB sticks and memory cards, as well as to the tangible medium itself, provided that the tangible medium serves exclusively as a carrier of the digital_content.

  However, instead of the provisions of this Directive on the trader's obligation to supply and on the consumer's remedies for failure to supply, the provisions of Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) on obligations related to the delivery of goods and remedies in the event of the failure to deliver should apply.

  In addition, the provisions of Directive 2011/83/EU on, for example, the right of withdrawal and the nature of the contract under which those goods are supplied, should also continue to apply to such tangible media and the digital_content supplied on it.

  This Directive is also without prejudice to the distribution right applicable to these goods under copyright law.

(24) Digital content or digital_services are often supplied also where the consumer does not pay a price but provides personal_data to the trader.

  Such business models are used in different forms in a considerable part of the market.

  While fully recognising that the protection of personal_data is a fundamental right and that therefore personal_data cannot be considered as a commodity, this Directive should ensure that consumers are, in the context of such business models, entitled to contractual remedies.

  This Directive should, therefore, apply to contracts where the trader supplies, or undertakes to supply, digital_content or a digital_service to the consumer, and the consumer provides, or undertakes to provide, personal_data.

  The personal_data could be provided to the trader either at the time when the contract is concluded or at a later time, such as when the consumer gives consent for the trader to use any personal_data that the consumer might upload or create with the use of the digital_content or digital_service.

  Union law on the protection of personal_data provides for an exhaustive list of legal grounds for the lawful processing of personal_data.

  This Directive should apply to any contract where the consumer provides or undertakes to provide personal_data to the trader.

  For example, this Directive should apply where the consumer opens a social media account and provides a name and email address that are used for purposes other than solely supplying the digital_content or digital_service, or other than complying with legal requirements.

  It should equally apply where the consumer gives consent for any material that constitutes personal_data, such as photographs or posts that the consumer uploads, to be processed by the trader for marketing purposes.

  Member States should however remain free to determine whether the requirements for the formation, existence and validity of a contract under national law are fulfilled.

(25) Where digital_content and digital_services are not supplied in exchange for a price, this Directive should not apply to situations where the trader collects personal_data exclusively to supply digital_content or a digital_service, or for the sole purpose of meeting legal requirements.

  Such situations can include, for instance, cases where the registration of the consumer is required by applicable laws for security and identification purposes.

  This Directive should also not apply to situations where the trader only collects metadata, such as information concerning the consumer's device or browsing history, except where this situation is considered to be a contract under national law.

  It should also not apply to situations where the consumer, without having concluded a contract with the trader, is exposed to advertisements exclusively in order to gain access to digital_content or a digital_service.

  However, Member States should remain free to extend the application of this Directive to such situations, or to otherwise regulate such situations, which are excluded from the scope of this Directive.

(30) Union law relating to financial services contains numerous rules on consumer protection.

  Financial services, as defined by the law applicable to that sector, in particular in Directive 2002/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (9), also cover digital_content or digital_services relating, or giving access, to financial services and are therefore covered by the protection of Union financial services law.

  Contracts relating to digital_content or digital_services that constitute a financial service should therefore be excluded from the scope of this Directive.

(33) Digital content or digital_services are often combined with the provision of goods or other services and offered to the consumer within the same contract comprising a bundle of different elements, such as the provision of digital television and the purchase of electronic equipment.

  In such cases, the contract between the consumer and the trader includes elements of a contract for the supply of digital_content or a digital_service, but also elements of other contract types, such as sale of goods or services contracts.

  This Directive should only apply to the elements of the overall contract that consist of the supply of digital_content or digital_services.

  The other elements of the contract should be governed by the rules applicable to those contracts under national law or, as applicable, other Union law governing a specific sector or subject matter.

  Likewise, any effects that the termination of one element of the bundle contract could have on the other elements of that bundle contract should be governed by national law.

  However, in order to ensure consistency with the sector-specific provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) regulating bundle contracts, where a trader offers, within the meaning of that Directive, digital_content or a digital_service in combination with a number-based interpersonal communications service or an internet access service, the provisions of this Directive on the modification of digital_content should not apply to the digital_content or digital_service element of the bundle.

  The relevant provisions of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 should instead apply to all elements of the bundle, including the digital_content or digital_service.

(41) There are various ways for the trader to supply digital_content or digital_services to consumers.

  It is opportune to set simple and clear rules as to the modalities and the time for performing that obligation to supply which is the main contractual obligation of the trader, by making the digital_content or a digital_service available or accessible to the consumer.

  The digital_content or digital_service should be considered to be made available or accessible to the consumer when the digital_content or digital_service, or any means suitable for accessing or downloading it, has reached the sphere of the consumer and no further action is required by the trader in order to enable the consumer to use the digital_content or digital_service in accordance with the contract.

  Considering that the trader is not in principle responsible for acts or omissions of a third party which operates a physical or virtual facility, for instance an electronic platform or a cloud storage facility, that the consumer selects for receiving or storing the digital_content or digital_service, it should be sufficient for the trader to supply the digital_content or digital_service to that third party.

  However, the physical or virtual facility cannot be considered to be chosen by the consumer if it is under the trader's control or is contractually linked to the trader, or where the consumer selected that physical or virtual facility for receipt of the digital_content or digital_service but that choice was the only one offered by the trader to receive or access the digital_content or digital_service.

(42) The digital_content or digital_service should comply with the requirements agreed between the trader and the consumer in the contract.

  In particular, it should comply with the description, quantity, for example the number of music files that can be accessed, quality, for example the picture resolution, language and version agreed in the contract.

  It should also possess the security, functionality, compatibility, interoperability and other features, as required by the contract.

  The requirements of the contract should include those resulting from the pre-contractual information which, in accordance with Directive 2011/83/EU, forms an integral part of the contract.

  Those requirements could also be set out in a service level agreement, where, under the applicable national law, such type of agreement forms part of the contractual relationship between the consumer and the trader.

(43) The notion of functionality should be understood to refer to the ways in which digital_content or a digital_service can be used.

  For instance, the absence or presence of any technical restrictions such as protection via Digital Rights Management or region coding could have an impact on the ability of the digital_content or digital_service to perform all its functions having regard to its purpose.

  The notion of interoperability relates to whether and to what extent digital_content or a digital_service is able to function with hardware or software that is different from those with which digital_content or digital_services of the same type are normally used.

  Successful functioning could include, for instance, the ability of the digital_content or digital_service to exchange information with such other software or hardware and to use the information exchanged.

(44) Given that digital_content and digital_services are constantly developing, traders may agree with consumers to provide updates and features as they become available.

  The conformity of the digital_content or digital_service should, therefore, also be assessed in relation to whether the digital_content or service is updated in the manner that has been stipulated in the contract.

  Failure to supply updates that had been agreed to in the contract should be considered a lack of conformity of the digital_content or digital_service.

  Moreover, defective or incomplete updates should also be considered a lack of conformity of the digital_content or digital_service, given that that would mean that such updates are not performed in the manner stipulated in the contract.

(46) The standard of reasonableness with regard to any reference in this Directive to what can be reasonably expected by a person should be objectively ascertained, having regard to the nature and purpose of the digital_content or digital_service, the circumstances of the case and to the usages and practices of the parties involved.

  In particular, what is considered to be a reasonable time for bringing the digital_content or digital_service into conformity should be objectively ascertained, having regard to the nature of the lack of conformity.

(50) When applying the rules of this Directive, traders should make use of standards, open technical specifications, good practices and codes of conduct, including in relation to the commonly used and machine-readable format for retrieving the content other than personal_data, which was provided or created by the consumer when using the digital_content or digital_service, and including on the security of information systems and digital_environments, whether established at international level, Union level or at the level of a specific industry sector.

  In this context, the Commission could call for the development of international and Union standards and the drawing up of a code of conduct by trade associations and other representative organisations that could support the uniform implementation of this Directive.

(51) Many types of digital_content or digital_services are supplied continuously over a period of time, such as access to cloud services.

  It is therefore necessary to ensure that the digital_content or digital_service is in conformity throughout the duration of the contract.

  Short-term interruptions of the supply of digital_content or a digital_service should be treated as instances of lack of conformity where those interruptions are more than negligible or recur.

  Moreover, given the frequent improvement of digital_content and digital_services, in particular by updates, the version of digital_content or of a digital_service supplied to the consumer should be the most recent one available at the time of the conclusion of the contract, unless the parties have agreed otherwise.

(53) Restrictions of the consumer's use of the digital_content or digital_service in accordance with this Directive could result from limitations imposed by the holder of intellectual property rights in accordance with intellectual property law.

  Such restrictions can arise from the end-user license agreement under which the digital_content or digital_service is supplied to the consumer.

  This can be the case when, for instance, an end-user licence agreement prohibits the consumer from making use of certain features related to the functionality of the digital_content or digital_service.

  Such a restriction could render the digital_content or digital_service in breach of the objective requirements for conformity laid down in this Directive, if it concerned features which are usually found in digital_content or digital_services of the same type and which the consumer can reasonably expect.

  In such cases, the consumer should be able to claim the remedies provided for in this Directive for the lack of conformity against the trader who supplied the digital_content or digital_service.

  The trader should only be able to avoid such liability by fulfilling the conditions for derogating from the objective requirements for conformity as laid down in this Directive, namely only if the trader specifically informs the consumer before the conclusion of the contract that a particular characteristic of the digital_content or digital_service deviates from the objective requirements for conformity and the consumer has expressly and separately accepted that deviation.

(55) The trader should be liable to the consumer in the event of a lack of conformity of the digital_content or digital_service, and for any failure to supply the digital_content or digital_service.

  As digital_content or digital_services can be supplied to consumers through one or more individual acts of supply or continuously over a period of time, it is appropriate that the relevant time for the purpose of establishing conformity of the digital_content or digital_service be determined in the light of those different types of supply.

(56) Digital content or digital_services can be supplied to consumers through a single act of supply, for instance when consumers download an e-book and store it on their personal device.

  Similarly, the supply can consist of a series of such individual acts, for instance where consumers receive a link to download a new e-book every week.

  The distinctive element of this category of digital_content or digital_service is the fact that consumers thereafter have the possibility to access and use the digital_content or digital_service indefinitely.

  In such cases, the conformity of the digital_content or digital_service should be assessed at the time of supply, and therefore the trader should only be liable for any lack of conformity which exists at the time when the single act of supply or each individual act of supply takes place.

  In order to ensure legal certainty, traders and consumers should be able to rely on a harmonised minimum period during which the trader should be held liable for a lack of conformity.

  In relation to contracts which provide for a single act of supply or a series of individual acts of supply of the digital_content or digital_service, Member States should ensure that traders are liable for not less than two years from the time of supply, if under their respective national law the trader is only liable for any lack of conformity that becomes apparent within a period of time after supply.

(57) Digital content or digital_services could also be supplied to consumers in a continuous manner over a period of time.

  Continuous supply can include cases whereby the trader makes a digital_service available to consumers for a fixed or an indefinite period of time, such as a two-year cloud storage contract or an indefinite social media platform membership.

  The distinctive element of this category is the fact that the digital_content or digital_service is available or accessible to consumers only for the fixed duration of the contract or for as long as the indefinite contract is in force.

  Therefore, it is justified that the trader, in such cases, should only be liable for a lack of conformity which appears during that period of time.

  The element of continuous supply should not necessarily require a long-term supply.

  Cases such as web-streaming of a video clip should be considered continuous supply over a period of time, regardless of the actual duration of the audio-visual file.

  Cases where specific elements of the digital_content or digital_service are made available periodically or on several instances during the fixed duration of the contract, or for as long as the indefinite contract is in force, should also be considered a continuous supply over a period of time, for instance where the contract stipulates that a copy of anti-virus software can be used for a year and will be automatically updated on the first day of each month of this period, or that the trader will issue updates whenever new features of a digital game become available, and the digital_content or digital_service is available or accessible to consumers only for the fixed duration of the contract or for as long as the indefinite contract is in force.

(58) Member States should remain free to regulate national limitation periods.

  However, such limitation periods should not prevent consumers from exercising their rights throughout the period of time during which the trader is liable for a lack of conformity.

  While this Directive should therefore not harmonise the starting point of national limitation periods, it should nevertheless ensure that such periods still allow consumers to exercise their remedies for any lack of conformity that becomes apparent at least during the period during which the trader is liable for a lack of conformity.

(60) Without prejudice to the fundamental right to the protection of private life, including confidentiality of communications, and to the protection of personal_data of the consumer, the consumer should cooperate with the trader in order for the trader to ascertain whether the cause of the lack of conformity lies in the consumer's digital_environment using the technically available means which are least intrusive for the consumer.

  This can often be done for instance by providing the trader with automatically generated incident reports or with details of the consumer's internet connection.

  Only in exceptional and duly justified circumstances where, despite the best use of all other means, there is no other way possible, consumers may need to allow virtual access to their digital_environment.

  However, where the consumer does not cooperate with the trader and the consumer had been informed of the consequences of non-cooperation, it should be for the consumer to prove not only that the digital_content or digital_service is not in conformity, but also that the digital_content or digital_service was not in conformity at the time of supply of the digital_content or digital_service where the contract provides for a single act of supply or a series of individual acts of supply or, where the contract provides for continuous supply over a period of time, for the duration of the contract.

(61) Where the trader has failed to supply the digital_content or digital_service, the consumer should call upon the trader to supply the digital_content or digital_service.

  In such cases, the trader should act without undue delay, or within an additional period of time as expressly agreed to by the parties.

  Considering that digital_content or a digital_service is supplied in digital form, the supply should not require, in the majority of situations, any additional time to make the digital_content or digital_service available to the consumer.

  Therefore, in such cases, the obligation of the trader to supply the digital_content or digital_service without undue delay should mean having to supply it immediately.

  If the trader then fails to supply the digital_content or digital_service, the consumer should be entitled to terminate the contract.

  In specific circumstances, such as where it is clear that the trader will not supply the digital_content or digital_service or where a specific time for the supply is essential for the consumer, the consumer should be entitled to terminate the contract without first calling upon the trader to supply the digital_content or digital_service.

(63) Depending on the technical characteristics of the digital_content or digital_service, the trader should be allowed to select a specific way of bringing the digital_content or digital_service into conformity, for example by issuing updates or making a new copy of the digital_content or digital_service available to the consumer.

(64) Given the diversity of digital_content and digital_services, it is not appropriate to set fixed deadlines for the exercise of rights or the fulfilling of obligations related to digital_content or digital_services.

  Such deadlines would not take account of such diversity and could be either too short or too long, depending on the case.

  It is therefore more appropriate to require that digital_content and digital_services be brought into conformity within a reasonable time.

  Such requirement should not prevent the parties from agreeing on a specific time for bringing the digital_content or digital_service into conformity.

  The digital_content or digital_service should be brought into conformity free of any charge.

  In particular, the consumer should not incur any costs associated with the development of an update for the digital_content or digital_service.

(65) Where bringing digital_content or a digital_service into conformity is legally or factually impossible or where the trader refuses to bring the digital_content or digital_service into conformity because to do so would impose disproportionate costs on the trader, or where the trader has failed to bring the digital_content or digital_service into conformity within a reasonable time, free of charge and without causing significant inconvenience to the consumer, the consumer should be entitled to the remedies of price reduction or termination of the contract.

  In certain situations, it is justified that the consumer should be entitled to have the price reduced or the contract terminated immediately, for instance where the trader previously failed to successfully bring the digital_content or digital_service into conformity or where the consumer cannot be expected to maintain confidence in the ability of the trader to bring the digital_content or digital_service into conformity due to the serious nature of the lack of conformity.

  For example, the consumer should be entitled to directly request a price reduction or the termination of the contract where the consumer is supplied with anti-virus software which is itself infected with viruses and would constitute an instance of lack of conformity of such a serious nature.

  The same should apply where it is clear that the trader will not bring the digital_content or digital_service into conformity within a reasonable time or without significant inconvenience for the consumer.

(66) In a situation where the consumer is entitled to a reduction of the price paid for the digital_content or digital_service which is supplied over a period of time, the calculation of the price reduction should take into consideration the decrease of value of the digital_content or digital_service due both to the lack of conformity and to the time during which the consumer was unable to enjoy the digital_content or digital_service in conformity.

(67) Where the digital_content or digital_service is supplied in exchange for a price, the consumer should be able to terminate the contract only if the lack of conformity is not minor.

  However, where the digital_content or digital_service is not supplied in exchange for a price but personal_data are provided by the consumer, the consumer should be entitled to terminate the contract also in cases where the lack of conformity is minor, since the remedy of price reduction is not available to the consumer.

  In cases where the consumer pays a price and provides personal_data, the consumer should be entitled to all available remedies in the event of a lack of conformity.

  In particular, provided all other conditions are met, the consumer should be entitled to have the digital_content or digital_service brought into conformity, to have the price reduced in relation to the money paid for the digital_content or digital_service or to have the contract terminated.

(70) The consumer could be discouraged from exercising remedies for a lack of conformity of digital_content or a digital_service if the consumer is deprived of access to content other than personal_data, which the consumer provided or created through the use of the digital_content or digital_service.

  In order to ensure that the consumer benefits from effective protection in relation to the right to terminate the contract, the trader should therefore, at the request of the consumer, make such content available to the consumer following the termination of the contract.

(71) The consumer should be entitled to retrieve the content within a reasonable time, without hindrance from the trader, in a commonly used machine-readable format and free of charge, with the exception of costs generated by the consumer's own digital_environment, for instance the costs of a network connection as those costs are not specifically linked to the retrieval of the content.

  However, the obligation of the trader to make available such content should not apply where the content only has utility within the context of using the digital_content or digital_service, or relates only to the consumer's activity when using the digital_content or digital_service or has been aggregated with other data by the trader and cannot be disaggregated or only with disproportionate efforts.

  In such cases, the content does not have significant practical use or interest for the consumer while taking into account also the interests of the trader.

  Moreover, the obligation of the trader to make available to the consumer, upon termination of the contract, any content that is not personal_data and has been provided or created by the consumer should be without prejudice to the trader's right not to disclose certain content in accordance with applicable law.

(72) Where the contract is terminated, the consumer should not be required to pay for the use of the digital_content or digital_service for any period during which the digital_content or a digital_service was not in conformity because that would deprive the consumer of effective protection.

  However, the consumer should also refrain from using the digital_content or digital_service and from making it available to third parties, for instance by deleting the digital_content or any usable copy or rendering the digital_content or digital_service otherwise inaccessible.

(74) This Directive should also address modifications, such as updates and upgrades, which are carried out by traders on the digital_content or digital_service which is supplied or made accessible to the consumer over a period of time.

  Considering the fast-evolving character of digital_content and digital_services, such updates, upgrades or similar modifications may be necessary and are often advantageous for the consumer.

  Some modifications, for instance those stipulated as updates in the contract, may form part of the contractual commitment.

  Other modifications can be required to fulfil the objective requirements for conformity of the digital_content or digital_service as set out in this Directive.

  Yet other modifications, which would deviate from the objective requirements for conformity and which are foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract, would have to be expressly agreed to by the consumer when concluding the contract.

(75) In addition to modifications aimed at maintaining conformity, the trader should be allowed under certain conditions to modify features of the digital_content or digital_service, provided that the contract gives a valid reason for such a modification.

  Such valid reasons could encompass cases where the modification is necessary to adapt the digital_content or digital_service to a new technical environment or to an increased number of users or for other important operational reasons.

  Such modifications are often to the advantage of the consumer as they improve the digital_content or digital_service.

  Consequently, the parties to the contract should be able to include clauses in the contract which allow the trader to undertake modifications.

  In order to balance consumer and business interests, such a possibility for the trader should be coupled with a right for the consumer to terminate the contract where such modifications negatively impact the use of or access to the digital_content or digital_service in more than only a minor manner.

  The extent to which modifications negatively impact the use of or access to the digital_content or digital_service by the consumer should be objectively ascertained having regard to the nature and purpose of the digital_content or digital_service and to the quality, functionality, compatibility and other main features which are normal for digital_content or digital_services of the same type.

  The rules provided for in this Directive concerning such updates, upgrades or similar modifications should however not concern situations where the parties conclude a new contract for the supply of the digital_content or digital_service, for instance as a consequence of distributing a new version of the digital_content or digital_service.

(76) Consumers should be informed of modifications in a clear and comprehensible manner.

  Where a modification negatively impacts, in more than a minor manner, the access to or use of digital_content or a digital_service by the consumer, the consumer should be informed in a way that allows the information to be stored on a durable_medium.

  A durable_medium should enable the consumer to store the information for as long as is necessary to protect the interests of the consumer arising from the consumer's relationship with the trader.

  Such media should include, in particular, paper, DVDs, CDs, USB sticks, memory cards or hard disks as well as emails.

(77) Where a modification negatively impacts, in more than a minor manner, the access or use of the digital_content or digital_service by the consumer, the consumer should enjoy as a result of such a modification the right to terminate the contract free of any charge.

  Alternatively, the trader can decide to enable the consumer to maintain access to the digital_content or digital_service at no additional cost, without the modification and in conformity, in which case the consumer should not be entitled to terminate the contract.

  However, if the digital_content or digital_service that the trader enabled the consumer to maintain is no longer in conformity with the subjective and the objective requirements for conformity, the consumer should be able to rely on the remedies for a lack of conformity as provided for under this Directive.

  Where the requirements for such a modification as laid down in this Directive are not satisfied and the modification results in a lack of conformity, the consumer's right to bring the digital_content or digital_service into conformity, have the price reduced or the contract terminated, as provided for under this Directive, should remain unaffected.

  Similarly, where, subsequent to a modification, a lack of conformity of the digital_content or digital_service that has not been caused by the modification arises, the consumer should continue to be entitled to rely on remedies as provided for under this Directive for the lack of conformity in relation to this digital_content or digital_service.

(78) The lack of conformity of the digital_content or digital_service as supplied to the consumer is often due to one of the transactions in a chain that links the original designer to the final trader.

  While the final trader should be liable towards the consumer in the event of a lack of conformity, it is important to ensure that the trader has appropriate rights vis-à-vis different persons in the chain of transactions in order to be able to cover the liability towards the consumer.

  Such rights should be limited to commercial transactions and they should therefore not cover situations where the trader is liable towards the consumer for the lack of conformity of digital_content or a digital_service that is composed of or built upon software which was supplied without the payment of a price under a free and open-source licence by a person in previous links of the chain of transactions.

  However, it should be for the Member States under their applicable national law to identify the persons in the chain of transactions against which the final trader can turn and the modalities and conditions of such actions.

(83) Consumers should be able to benefit from their rights under this Directive as soon as the corresponding national transposition measures begin to apply.

  Those national transposition measures should, therefore, also apply to contracts of an indefinite or fixed duration which were concluded before the application date and provide for the supply of digital_content or digital_services over a period of time, either continuously or through a series of individual acts of supply, but only as regards digital_content or a digital_service that is supplied from the date of application of the national transposition measures.

  However, in order to ensure a balance between the legitimate interests of consumers and traders, the national measures transposing the provisions of this Directive on the modification of the digital_content or digital_service and the right to redress should only apply to contracts concluded after the application date pursuant to this Directive.