EU Data Act User Agreement Individual | Home Connect Developer Program

Agreement on data access and use between data holders and users of connected products and related services (“Agreement”)

1. Parties to the Agreement

This agreement on the access to and use of data is made between Home Connect GmbH, Carl-Wery-Straße 34, 81739 Munich, Germany (“HC” or “Data Holder”) and any party that identifies itself as the user within the meaning of the Data Act and declares its assent to the terms of this contract by accepting them in the course of the registration in the Home Connect Developer Portal (“User”). HC and User are referred to in this Agreement collectively as ‘the Parties’ and individually as ‘the Party’.

2. Products/Related Service

2.1. This Agreement is made with regard to:
1. connected products within the meaning of the Data Act that are sold under one of the brands of one of the affiliated companies of HC (each a “Product”).
2. the Home Connect App (“Related Service”).
2.2. The User declares that they are either the owner of the Product or contractually entitled to use the Product under a rent, lease or similar contract and/or to receive the Related Service under the Home Connect Terms of Use.
2.3. The User declares that they are Users in the Union of such Product or a Related Service as referred to in point (a) and (b).
2.4. The User commits to provide upon duly substantiated request to the Data Holder any relevant documentation to support these declarations, where necessary.

3. Data covered by the Agreement

3.1. The data covered by this Agreement consists of any readily available Product Data or Related Service Data within the meaning of the Data Act and includes both non-personal and personal data (“Data”).
3.2. The Data are listed in the Developer Portal (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act).
3.3. If, during this Agreement, other data than those specified in the Developer Portal (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act) must be made available to the User, the Developer Portal and related service will be amended accordingly.

4. Data access by the User upon request

4.1. Obligation to make data available
4.1.1. The Data, together with the relevant metadata necessary to interpret and use those Data must be made accessible to the User by the Data Holder, at the request of the User or a party acting on their behalf. The request must be made using the Home Connect Developer Program. In order to access the Data via the Home Connect Developer Program, User must accept this Agreement as well as the terms of use for the Developer Program. The current version of these terms of use can be found at: https://developer.home-connect.com/developer_agreement. In addition, a general Home Connect account is required. The current version of these Home Connect Account terms of use can be found at: https://www.home-connect.com/ie/en/app-legal/legal/app-terms-of-use.
4.1.2. For the purpose of verifying that the request is made by the User or on their behalf, the Data Holder shall not require to provide any information beyond what is necessary.
4.1.3. When the User is not the data subject, the Data Holder shall make the Data which is personal data only available to the User, when there is a valid legal basis for making personal data available under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and only, where relevant, the conditions set out in Article 9 of that Regulation and of Article 5(3) of Directive 2002/58/EC (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) are met.
4.1.4. In that respect, when the User is not the data subject, the User must indicate to the Data Holder, in each request presented under the previous clause, the legal basis for processing under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (and, where relevant, the applicable derogation under Article 9 of that Regulation and Article 5(3) of Directive (EU) 2002/58) upon which the making available of personal data is requested.
4.2. Data characteristics and access arrangements
4.2.1. The Data Holder must make the Data available to the User, free of charge for the User, with at least the same quality as it becomes available to the Data Holder, and in any case in a comprehensive, structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (e.g., JSON).
4.2.2. The User must receive access to the requested Data: (a) easily and securely; (b) without undue delay and (c) where relevant and technically feasible, continuously and in real-time. However, the continuous and real-time availability of the Data depends on other factors (e.g., the Product's Wi-Fi connection, Internet connection, availability of APIs, etc.). For technical reasons, there is always a certain amount of latency due to the various transmission processes.
4.2.3. In order to meet the requirements of clauses 4.2.1 and 4.2.2, the Data Holder provides the Data via the REST API provided as part of the Home Connect Developer Program. Further information on the technical requirements and the relevant service quality can be found at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act.
4.3. Feedback loops
4.3.1. If the User identifies an incident related to clause 3 on the Data covered by the Agreement, to the requirements of clauses 4.2.1 and 4.2.2 or of technical requirements and the relevant service quality (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act), and if the User notifies the Data Holder with a detailed description of the incident, the Data Holder and the User must cooperate in good faith to identify the reason of the incident.
4.3.2. If the incident was caused by a failure of the Data Holder to comply with their obligations, they must remedy the breach within a reasonable period of time.
4.4. Unilateral changes by the Data Holder
4.4.1. The Data Holder may unilaterally change the specifications of the Data characteristics or the access arrangements stated in the technical requirements and the relevant service quality (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act), if this is objectively justified by the normal conduct of business of the Data Holder, for example by a technical modification due to an immediate security vulnerability in the line of the products or related services or a change in the Data Holder’s infrastructure. Any change must meet the requirements of clauses 4.2.1 and 4.2.2.
4.4.2. The Data Holder should give notice of the change to the User through the Developer Portal or by e-mail generally two (2) weeks before the change takes effect.
4.4.3. A shorter notice period may suffice:
1. where the change does not negatively affect data access and use by the User; or
2. where such notice would be impossible or unreasonable in the circumstances, such as where immediate changes are required because of a security vulnerability that has just been detected.

5. Protection of trade secrets

To the extent the Data include data which is protected as trade secrets (“Trade Secrets” as defined in the Trade Secrets Directive (EU) 2016/943), held by the Data Holder or another Trade Secret Holder (“Trade Secret Holder” as defined in said Directive) the following applies:

5.1. Applicability of trade secret arrangements
5.1.1. The protective measures agreed on clauses 5.2 and 5.3 of this Agreement, as well as the related rights agreed in clause 5.4 , apply exclusively to Data or metadata included in the Data to be made available by the Data Holder to the User, which are identified by HC as Trade Secrets.
5.1.2. The Data protected as Trade Secrets and the identity of the Trade Secret Holder(s) are set out in the Developer Portal (quality (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act).
5.1.3. If, during this Agreement, new data is made available to the User that is protected as Trade Secrets, the Developer Portal (quality (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act) will be amended accordingly by HC. HC will inform User through the Developer Portal or by e-mail of such amendment.
5.1.4. The obligations set out in clauses 5.2 and 5.3 remain in effect after any termination of the Agreement, unless otherwise agreed by the Parties.
5.2. Protective measures taken by the User
5.2.1. The User must apply the protective measures set out in in the Developer Portal (quality (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act) (“User’s Protection Measures”).
5.2.2. If the User is permitted to make Data protected as trade secrets available to a third party, the User must inform the Data Holder without undue delay of the fact that Data protected as trade secrets have been or will be made available to a third party, specify the Data in question, and give the Data Holder the identity, place of establishment and contact details of the third party.
5.2.3. In order to verify if and to what extent the User has implemented and is maintaining the User’s Protection Measures, the User agrees to either (i) annually obtain, at User’s expense, a security conformity assessment audit report from an independent third party chosen by the User, or (ii) to annually allow, at Data Holder’s expense, a security conformity assessment audit from an independent third party chosen by the Data Holder, subject to such independent third party having signed a confidentiality agreement as provided by the User. Such security audit report must demonstrate User’s compliance with clauses 5 and the Developer Portal (quality (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act) as applicable at that time. The results of the audit reports will be submitted to both Parties without undue delay.
5.2.4. HC may choose between (i) and (ii). If a Party deems the security audit report obtained at the other party’s expense is not correct, they retain the right to obtain security audit report from another independent third party at their own expense. If this right is exercised, both independent third-party auditors, together with Parties, will discuss any difference between those two reports and aim to resolve any pending matters while observing good faith.
5.3. Protective measures taken by the Trade Secret Holder
5.3.1. The Data Holder may apply the measures agreed in the Developer Portal (quality (available at: https://developer.home-connect.com/eu_data_act) to preserve the confidentiality of the Data protected as trade secrets (“Data Holder’s Protection Measures”).
5.3.2. The Data Holder may also add unilaterally appropriate technical and organizational protection measures, if they do not negatively affect the access and use of the Data by the User under this Agreement.
5.3.3. The User undertakes not to alter or remove the Data Holder’s protection measures nor the measures taken in accordance with clause 5.3.2, unless otherwise agreed by the Parties.
5.4. Obligation to share and right to refuse, withhold or terminate
5.4.1. Where the identified User’s Protection Measures and the Data Holder’s Protection Measures do not materially suffice to adequately protect a particular Data protected as trade secret, the Data Holder may, by giving notice to the User with a detailed description of the inadequacy of the measures:
1. unilaterally increase the protection measures regarding the specific identified Trade Secret in question, provided this increase is compatible with their obligations under this Agreement and does not negatively affect the User; or
2. request that additional protection measures be agreed. If there is no agreement on the necessary additional measures after a reasonable period of time and if the need of such measures is duly substantiated, e.g. in a security audit report, the Data Holder may suspend the sharing of the specific Data in question. In such case, the Data Holder must give notice to the User. The notice must be duly substantiated, indicate which measures have not been agreed, and be given in writing without undue delay. The Data Holder must continue to share any Data protected as trade secrets other than these specific Data.
5.4.2. If, in exceptional circumstances, the Data Holder is able to demonstrate that it is highly likely to suffer serious economic damage from disclosure of a particular Data protected as trade secret to the User despite the User’s Protection Measures and the Data Holder’s Protection Measures having been implemented, the Data Holder may refuse or suspend sharing the specific Data in question.
The Data Holder must give a duly substantiated notice without undue delay to the User and to the competent authority designated pursuant to Article 37 of the Data Act.
However, the Data Holder must continue to share any Data protected as trade secrets other than those specific Data.
5.4.3. If the User fails to implement and maintain their User’s Protection Measures and if this failure is duly substantiated by the Data Holder, e.g. in a security audit report, the Data Holder is entitled to withhold or suspend the sharing of the specific Identified Trade Secrets, until the User has resolved the incident.
In this case, the Data Holder must, without undue delay, give duly substantiated notice in writing to the User and to the competent authority designated pursuant to Article 37 of the Data Act.
5.4.4. Clause 5.4.1 does not entitle the Data Holder to terminate this Agreement.
5.4.5. Clauses 5.4.2 and 5.4.3 entitle the Data Holder to terminate this Agreement only with regard to the specific identified Trade Secrets, and if:
1. all the conditions of clause 5.4.2 respectively 5.4.3 have been met;
2. no resolution has been found by Parties after a reasonable period of time, despite an attempt to find an amicable solution, including after intervention by the competent authority designated under Article 37 of the Data Act; and
3. the User has not been awarded by a competent court with court decision obliging the Data Holder to make the Data available and there is no pending court proceedings for such a decision.
5.5. End of production and destruction of infringing goods

Without prejudice to other remedies available to the Data Holder in accordance with this Agreement or applicable law, if the User alters or removes technical protection measures applied by the Data Holder or does not maintain the technical and organizational measures taken by them in agreement with the Data Holder in accordance with clauses 5.2 and 5.3, the User shall upon Data Holder’s request:

5.5.1. to erase the data made available by the Data Holder or any copies thereof; and/or
5.5.2. end the production, offering or placing on the market or use of goods, derivative data or services produced on the basis of knowledge obtained through the identified Trade Secrets, or the importation, export or storage of infringing goods for those purposes, and destroy any infringing goods, where there is a serious risk that the unlawful use of those data will cause significant harm to the Data Holder or the Trade Secret Holder or where such a measure would not be disproportionate in light of the interests of the Data Holder or the Trade Secret Holder; and/or
5.5.3. compensate a party suffering from the misuse or disclosure of such unlawfully accessed or used data.

6. Data use by the User

6.1. Permissible use and sharing of data
The User may use the Data made available by the Data Holder upon their request for any lawful purpose and/or, to the extent that the Data is transferred to or can be retrieved by the User, share the Data freely subject to the limitations in clause 6.2.
6.2. Unauthorized use and sharing of data and restrictions for security reasons
6.2.1. The User undertakes not to engage in the following:
1. use the Data to develop a connected product that competes with the Product, nor share the Data with a third party for that purpose;
2. use such Data to derive insights about the economic situation, assets and production methods of the manufacturer or, where applicable, the Data Holder;
3. use coercive means or abuse gaps in the Data Holder’s technical infrastructure which is designed to protect the Data in order to obtain access to Data;
4. share the Data with a third-party considered as a gatekeeper under Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925.
6.2.2. Furthermore and in accordance with Article 4 (2) of the Data Act, the User and the Data Holder agree to prohibit the access, use and/or further sharing of Data, having as a consequence to undermine security requirements for the Product, as laid down by EU or national law resulting in a serious effect on the health, safety or security of natural persons.

7. Data sharing upon the User’s request with a Data Recipient

7.1.1. The Data, together with the relevant metadata necessary to interpret and use those Data, must be made available to a Data Recipient by the Data Holder, free of charge for the User, upon request presented by the User or a party acting on its behalf. The request must be made through the pairing of User’s Home Connect Account with the Data Recipient’s solution.. For the purpose of verifying that the request is made by the User, the Data Holder shall not require to provide any information beyond what is necessary.
7.1.2. When the User is not the data subject, the Data Holder shall make the Data which is personal data only available to a third party following a request of the User, when there is a valid legal basis for making personal data available under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and only, where relevant, the conditions set out in Article 9 of that Regulation and of Article 5(3) of Directive 2002/58/EC (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) are met.
7.1.3. In that respect, when the User is not the data subject, the User must indicate to the Data Holder, the legal basis for processing under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (and, where relevant, the applicable derogation under Article 9 of that Regulation and Article 5(3) of Directive (EU) 2002/58) upon which the making available of personal data is requested.
7.1.4. The Data Holder must make the Data available to a Data Recipient with at least the same quality as they become available to the Data Holder, and in any case in a comprehensive, structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, easily and securely.
7.1.5. Where the User submits such a request, the Data Holder will agree with the Data Recipient the arrangements for making the Data available in accordance with Chapter III and Chapter IV of the Data Act. This includes that the Data Recipient has to also register in the Developer Portal.
7.1.6. The User acknowledges that a request under clause 7.1.1 cannot benefit a third party considered as a gatekeeper under Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 and cannot be made in the context of the testing of new connected products, substances or processes that are not yet placed on the market.
7.1.7. The User acknowledges that the third party shall only process the Data made available to them pursuant to clause 7.1.1 for the purposes and under the conditions agreed with the User. The Data Holder may not be held liable towards the User for the absence of such an agreement between the User and the third party, unless the Data Holder knew or should have known about this absence.

8. Transfer of use and multiple users

8.1. Transfer of use
8.1.1. Where the User contractually transfers (i) ownership of the Product, or (ii) their temporary rights to use the Product, and/or (ii) their rights to receive Related Services to a subsequent person (“Subsequent User”) and loses the status of a user after the transfer, the initial User must notify the Data Holder of the transfer and stop sharing any future Data with Data Recipients.
8.2. Multiple users
Where the initial User grants a right to use of the Product and/or Related Service(s) to another party (“Additional User”) while retaining their quality as a user, the Parties undertake to comply with the requirements set out in this clause.
8.2.1. In the contract between the initial User and the Additional User, the initial User includes, on behalf of the Data Holder, clauses substantially reflecting the content of this contract between the initial User and the Data Holder and the right to use non-personal data as set forth in the Home Connect Terms of Use, for the duration of the temporary use of the Product and/or Related Service;
8.2.2. The initial User acts as a first contact point for the Additional User, if the Additional User makes a data access request under Articles 4 or 5 of the Data Act. The Data Holder must collaborate with the initial User to address the request.
8.3. Liability of the Initial User
8.3.1. To the extent that the initial User’s failure to comply with their obligations under clauses 8.1or 8.2 leads to the use or sharing of Product or Related Services Data by the Data Holder in the absence of a contract with the Subsequent or Additional User, the initial User will indemnify the Data Holder in respect of any claims for damages by the Subsequent or Additional User towards the Data Holder for their use of the Data after the transfer or temporary use of the Product and/or Related Service(s).

9. Liability

9.1. The Data Holder shall be liable to User, without limitation, in the case of deliberate action, gross negligence and fraudulently concealed defects for any damage caused by the Data Holder or its legal representatives or agents.
9.2. In the case of slight negligence, the Data Holder shall be liable to User, without limitation, for any injury to life, limb or health. Beyond this, the Data Holder shall be liable to User only insofar as the Data Holder has violated an integral contractual obligation, this being an obligation whose fulfilment actually enables the proper performance of this Agreement in the first place and the abidance by which User, as contractual partner, may regularly rely on. In such cases, liability shall be limited to compensation for damages which the Data Holder foresaw or could be reasonably expected to have foreseen at the time of conclusion of this Agreement as a result of its non-performance.
9.3. The liability of the Data Holder in accordance with the provisions of applicable product liability law shall remain unaffected by the above provisions.

10. Date of application and duration

This Agreement takes effect upon acceptance by User in the Developer Portal and is concluded for an indeterminate period of time subject to any grounds for expiry or termination under this Agreement.

11. Termination

11.1. Automatic termination
Irrespective of the contract period agreed under clause 10, this Agreement terminates:
11.1.1. upon the destruction of the Product or permanent discontinuation of the Related Service, or when the Product or Related Service loses its capacity to generate the Data in an irreversible manner; or
11.1.2. upon the User losing ownership of the Product or when the User’s rights with regard to the Product under a rental, lease or similar agreement or the user’s rights with regard to the related service come to an end; or
11.1.3. when both Parties so agree.
Clauses 11.1.2 and 11.1.3 shall be without prejudice to the Agreement remaining in force between the Data Holder and any Subsequent or Additional User.
11.2. Effects of termination
11.2.1. Termination of this Agreement releases both Parties from their obligation to effect and to receive future performance but does not affect the rights and liabilities that have accrued up to the time of termination.
11.2.2. Termination does not affect any provision in this Agreement which is to operate even after the Agreement has come to an end, in particular clause 15.1 on confidentiality, clause 5 on trade secrets and clause 15 on applicable law and place of jurisdiction.

12. Suspension

The Data Holder can suspend the sharing of Data with the User until the User complies with their obligations, by giving a duly substantiated notice to the User without undue delay:
1. if the non-performance of User’s obligations is fundamental;
2. (if applicable) provided that all other conditions set out in clause 5.4.3 are met, in cases described in clause 5.4.3.

13. Excused Performance

13.1. A Party’s non-performance is excused if it is due to an impediment beyond its control and that that Party could not reasonably have been expected to take the impediment into account at the time of the conclusion of this Agreement, or to have avoided or overcome the impediment or its consequences.
13.2. Where the impediment is only temporary the excuse has effect for the period during which the impediment exists.

14. Changes to the Agreement

14.1. HC shall have the right to change the Agreement. Editorial changes to the Agreement, i.e. changes which do not affect the contractual relationship such as the correction of typing errors, will be made without notifying Users.
14.2. HC shall give Users advance notice by email of any changes to the Agreement which affect the contractual relationship as a rule at least six weeks before the date on which the change takes effect. Such notice will also include information on User’s right to reject the changes and the resulting consequences. In case the User does not reject the changes, consent to the changes shall be deemed as granted and the changed Agreement will become effective on the date on which the change takes effect. In case the User rejects the changes, HC shall have the right to terminate User’s contract on the date on which the change takes effect.

15. Confidentiality

15.1. "Confidential Information" means any and all non-public information, whether in oral, written, electronic, or other form, that is designated as confidential or alike or that, given the nature of the information or circumstances surrounding its disclosure, should reasonably be understood to be confidential.
15.2. Both Parties agree to take all reasonable measures to store securely Confidential Information and not to make such information available to any third party, unless
1. one of the Parties is under a legal obligation to or make available the relevant information,
2. it is necessary for one of the Parties to make the relevant information available in order to fulfil their obligations under this Agreement,
3. the Confidential Information becomes publicly available through no fault of the receiving party;
4. the Confidential Information Is independently developed by the receiving party without use of the disclosing party's Confidential Information;
5. the Confidential Information is rightfully obtained by the receiving party from a third party without breach of any obligation of confidentiality;
6. the Confidential Information is already known to the receiving party prior to disclosure by the disclosing party, as evidenced by written records; or
7. one of the Parties has obtained the prior consent of the other Party or the party providing the confidential information or affected by its disclosure.
15.3. These confidentiality obligations remain applicable after the termination of the Agreement for a period of two (2) years.
15.4. These confidentiality obligations do not remove any more stringent obligations under (i) the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), (ii) the provisions implementing Directive 2002/58/EC or Directive (EU) 2016/943, or (iii) any other EU or Member State law (iv) (if applicable) clause 6 of this Agreement.

16. Interpretation

16.1. This Agreement is concluded by the Parties against the background of the Parties’ rights and obligations under the Data Act. Any provision in this Agreement must be interpreted so as to comply with the Data Act and other EU law or national legislation adopted in accordance with EU law as well as any applicable national law that is compatible with EU law and cannot be derogated from by agreement.
16.2. If any gap or ambiguity in this contract cannot be resolved in the way referred to by clause 16.1, this Agreement must be interpreted in the light of the rules of interpretation provided for by the applicable law (see clause 17.2).

17. Final Provisions

17.1. Should any provision of this Agreement or a provision later on included in this Agreement be or become ineffective, unenforceable or void as a whole or in a part, or should a gap in this Agreement become evident, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions. The parties hereto shall replace the ineffective, unenforceable or void provision with a lawful and enforceable provision that reflects the business purpose of the ineffective, unenforceable or void provision. The parties shall similarly add a necessary appropriate provision where such a provision is missing.
17.2. This Agreement is exclusively governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany with the exclusion of any conflict of laws provisions. The UN Convention on the International Sales of Goods shall not apply. Munich, Germany shall be the exclusive place of jurisdiction.
Version: September 2025

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