With a view to preserving the effectiveness of the liberalisation of the spare parts aftermarket sought by this Regulation and in line with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, in order to be able to benefit from the repair clause exemption from design protection, the manufacturer or seller of a component part of a complex product is under a duty of diligence to ensure, through appropriate means, in particular contractual means, that downstream users do not intend to use the component parts at issue for purposes other than that of repair so as to restore the original appearance of the complex product. That, however, should not require the manufacturer or seller of a component part of a complex product to guarantee, objectively and in all circumstances, that the parts they make or sell are, ultimately, actually used by end users for the sole purpose of repair so as to restore the original appearance of that complex product.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
