Digital services and content
You must treat your consumers fairly also when you provide digital content or digital services without charging consumers money for it. Furthermore, from now on, when you provide such digital content or digital services and use the consumer’s personal data for commercial purposes, you have to fulfil certain requirements that previously applied only to contracts involving a payment of money.
Specifically, from now on, the consumer has the right to receive the necessary information about the main characteristics of the digital content or digital service and the provider’s identity and contact details, such as email address. The consumer also has the right to withdraw from the service contract within 14 days.
These consumer protection obligations come in addition to personal data protection rules that regulate the collection and use of consumers’ personal data.
You run a free classified ads site. Users can use the site to post and search for ads for free. However, they need to register by submitting their personal details (name, gender, age, location and email address) before they can start searching and posting and you use this and other users’ personal information to generate revenue. In this case, you are obliged to provide your users, before they sign up, with information about the main features of your service, your identity and contact details. Also, the consumers have the right of withdrawal within 14 days from signing up to the service.
Read more about this policy and how to apply it in practice in the European Commission Notice: Guidance on the interpretation and application of the Consumer Rights Directive (section 1.6.2. “Contracts where the consumer provides personal data”, section 5.2. “Information about the right of withdrawal”, section 5.4. “Consequences of the withdrawal concerning the data”, section 5.8.3. “Consequences regarding online digital content”).