Consumer Rights Act 2015 Explanatory Notes

Section 33: Contracts covered by this chapter

174.This section sets out which contracts to supply digital content are covered by this Chapter. It clarifies that this Chapter will apply to contracts between a trader and a consumer where a trader agrees to supply digital content that has been:

  • Paid for with money,

  • Associated with any paid for goods, digital content or services (e.g. free software given away with a paid-for magazine), and not generally available to consumers for free (that is, the consumer must pay something in order to get the digital content), and/or

  • Paid for with a facility, such as a token, virtual currency, or gift voucher, that was originally purchased with money (e.g. a magic sword bought within a computer game that was paid for within the game using “jewels” but those jewels were originally purchased with money).

175.Section 46 (Remedy for damage to device or to other digital content) applies to all digital content supplied under contract, including where no money is paid.

176.The Government retains a reserve power to extend the coverage of the digital content provisions to digital content contractually supplied in exchange for something else of value other than money (e.g. in exchange for personal data) in the future, should the Secretary of State be satisfied that there is significant consumer detriment resulting from these sorts of contracts.

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