Making available on the market
Any supply of a product with digital elements for distribution, consumption, or use on the EU market in the course of a commercial activity, whether for payment or free of charge. Unlike "placing on the market" (which refers to the first supply), "making available" covers every subsequent supply in the supply chain, including by importers and distributors.
Source citations
Regulation text
Article 3(22) of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 defines making available on the market as:
"any supply of a product with digital elements for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge".
Relationship with placing on the market
| Concept | Scope |
|---|---|
| Making available | Every supply in the supply chain (manufacturer → importer → distributor → retailer → end user) |
| Placing on the market | The first making available of a specific product by the manufacturer |
Scope of the CRA
The CRA applies to products placed on the market (Art. 2(1)). It targets products, not individual transactions — once a product type has been conformity-assessed and placed on the market, subsequent making-available transactions (resales, distribution) do not require a fresh conformity assessment for the same product, provided no substantial modification has occurred.
Distributors and making available
A distributor who makes a product available is in scope of Art. 20 obligations, even though they are not "placing" it on the market. Their primary check is confirming the product is compliant before supplying it further.
Remote delivery and software
For software distributed digitally, each download or deployment may constitute "making available". For SaaS and cloud-based products that include a remote data processing solution (RDPS), the provision of the service to users in the EU is the point of making available.