Products in Scope

In-scope products

This Regulation applies to products with digital elements made available on the market, the intended purpose or reasonably foreseeable use of which includes a direct or indirect logical or physical data connection to a device or network.

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 2(1)

The wording is cumulative. A product name, sales label, sector, or architecture diagram does not decide the answer by itself. The product must meet the defined CRA terms, reach the Union market, and include the relevant connection in its intended purpose or reasonably foreseeable use.

• Product: software, hardware, a separately marketed component, or a remote data processing solution that forms part of the product.
• Market supply: the product is supplied for distribution or use on the Union market in a commercial activity.
• Connection: the product's intended purpose or reasonably foreseeable use includes a logical, physical, direct, or indirect data connection.
• Exclusion: Article 2 or a delegated act can remove an otherwise in-scope product from the CRA.

Product with digital elements

‘product with digital elements’ means a software or hardware product and its remote data processing solutions, including software or hardware components being placed on the market separately;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(1)

The definition covers complete products and separately marketed components. Software is not limited to software embedded in hardware. Hardware is not limited to finished consumer devices. A component can also be a product with digital elements when it is placed on the market separately.

Remote data processing

‘remote data processing’ means data processing at a distance for which the software is designed and developed by the manufacturer, or under the responsibility of the manufacturer, and the absence of which would prevent the product with digital elements from performing one of its functions;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(2)

A remote data processing solution is not every cloud service that a user can reach from the product. It is part of the product when the manufacturer designed it, developed it, or is responsible for it, and the product would lose one of its functions without that remote processing.

Data connection types

‘logical connection’ means a virtual representation of a data connection implemented through a software interface;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(8)

‘physical connection’ means a connection between electronic information systems or components implemented using physical means, including through electrical, optical or mechanical interfaces, wires or radio waves;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(9)

‘indirect connection’ means a connection to a device or network, which does not take place directly but rather as part of a larger system that is directly connectable to such device or network;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(10)

The CRA connection concept is wider than internet access. A product can connect through software interfaces, host systems, hardware ports, buses, cables, optical links, or radio links. A product can also be indirectly connected when it runs inside a larger system that is connectable to a device or network.

Examples that clarify the connection terms include:

• Logical direct connections: browser HTTPS sessions, email clients using IMAP or SMTP, APIs, pipes, files, network sockets, and other software interfaces.
• Logical indirect connections: an offline calculator or text editor that runs on an operating system connected to a network.
• Physical connections: USB, Ethernet, fibre, fieldbus, electrical interfaces, optical interfaces, mechanical interfaces, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and other radio links.
• No relevant connection: firmware in a basic calculator, a dishwasher controller, or a simple toy when its intended purpose and reasonably foreseeable use include no connection to another device or network.

Market supply

‘making available on the market’ means the supply of a product with digital elements for distribution or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(22)

Price is not the deciding factor. Free supply can still be commercial when it is part of a commercial activity. The first making available on the Union market is placing on the market; later supply for distribution or use is also making available on the market.

A product made only for the manufacturer's own use is different from a product supplied on the Union market. The Commission FAQ gives the example of development and configuration tools made by a manufacturer for its own use: those tools are not in scope unless they are placed on the market as separate products.

Intended purpose and foreseeable use

‘intended purpose’ means the use for which a product with digital elements is intended by the manufacturer, including the specific context and conditions of use, as specified in the information supplied by the manufacturer in the instructions for use, promotional or sales materials and statements, as well as in the technical documentation;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(23)

‘reasonably foreseeable use’ means use that is not necessarily the intended purpose supplied by the manufacturer in the instructions for use, promotional or sales materials and statements, as well as in the technical documentation, but which is likely to result from reasonably foreseeable human behaviour or technical operations or interactions;

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Article 3(24)

Intended purpose comes from the manufacturer's own product information. Reasonably foreseeable use prevents the scope determination from depending only on a narrow stated use if normal human behaviour or technical interaction makes connected use likely.

Product boundary examples

The same product family can include both in-scope and out-of-scope cases. The legal answer follows the defined terms, not the broad commercial category.

Out of scope

Article 2 contains direct product exclusions, a delegated route for later exclusions or limits, and a separate rule for security-sensitive information. A product is not excluded merely because it belongs to a broad industry. The product must fit the Union act, delegated act, or condition that creates the carve-out.