{"id":4203,"date":"2022-01-06T11:05:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T10:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allensbach-hochschule.de\/?p=4203"},"modified":"2022-01-06T11:05:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T10:05:16","slug":"effective-date-1-january-2022-the-german-civil-code-will-be-made-fit-for-digital-products","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allensbach-hochschule.de\/en\/effective-date-1-january-2022-the-german-civil-code-will-be-made-fit-for-digital-products\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadline January 1, 2022: The BGB is being made fit for digital products!"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest reforms of the law of obligations in the German Civil Code after the fundamental modernization of the law of obligations around 20 years ago was introduced by the legislator with special rules for digital products on 1 January 2022. Two areas have been newly regulated. On the one hand, there are now special regulations for consumer contracts for digital products in Sections 327 et seq. BGB, and secondly, the legislator has revised the law on warranties for defects in the economically most important type of contract, the purchase contract, and made it fit for digital products. <\/em><\/p>\n

From\u00a0<\/strong>Prof. Dr. Patrick R\u00f6sler<\/strong><\/a>Professor of Banking Law at the\u00a0<\/strong>Allensbach University<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Consumer contracts for digital products<\/h3>\n

The <\/strong>Directive on digital content and services<\/strong> (short: DIDRL - (EU) 2019\/770) has led to the regulations on consumer contracts for digital products in Sections 327 et seq. BGB (German Civil Code). These have applied since 1.1.2022 and supplement the existing contract types of the BGB.<\/p>\n

The standards deal with a completely new subject at the time, the standardization of consumer contracts for digital content\u00a0<\/strong>(Examples<\/strong>computer programs, audio files, video games) and digital services<\/strong> (Examples<\/strong>cloud computing, streaming services). These only apply in relation to consumers.<\/p>\n

The new law defines the concept of defects for the warranty by subjective and objective requirements as well as Integration requirements<\/strong>. Remarkable is the Obligation to update<\/strong>\u00a0of the entrepreneur: Accordingly, the entrepreneur Function-preserving updates and security updates<\/strong>\u00a0to be provided. And this over a \"relevant period of time\", which is an undefined legal term that still needs to be defined by the courts. The assessment of how long this period lasts is based on criteria such as purchase price, advertising claims, materials, etc. In the case of subscription obligations, the period runs in any case for as long as the subscription runs.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a>New warranty for defects in sales law<\/h3>\n

Here too, the changes are based on an EU directive. The new Goods sales guideline<\/strong> has the previous Consumer Sales Directive<\/strong> replaced. The EU legislator wants to promote this growth market and therefore harmonize the European internal market. By integrating the new EU regulations into the law on material defects in sales contracts, they apply to all types of sales contracts, not just contracts between companies and consumers. This means that B2B contracts are also affected.<\/p>\n

The item sold has always had to be free of material defects and defects of title. However, the legislator has revised the details. According to the revised \u00a7 434 BGB, an item is free from Material defects<\/strong>if they meet the subjective, objective and installation requirements at the time of transfer of risk. When selling goods with digital elements to consumers, for example, there is also an obligation to update, which leads to a defect in the item if breached.<\/p>\n

Subjective requirements for the purchased item<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The purchased item corresponds to the subjective requirements<\/strong>if the following points are cumulative.<\/p>\n