The Authority Consumer & Market (ACM) has urged industry associations of (online) providers and manufacturers to remind their members of their duty to provide accurate information about software updates of smart devices. The industry associations complied and informed their members.
The ACM has previously challenged large online providers of "smart" devices on this. They indicated that in providing information about this, they depend on information from the manufacturers of the smart devices and that they by no means always get it. Manufacturers must provide this information to providers.
The ACM now sees that a number of large providers are providing consumers who want to buy a "smart" device online with better information in advance about software updates, for example, how long consumers will receive updates in any case, what the frequency of the updates is and what kind of updates consumers can expect. This allows consumers to factor this information into their purchase decision. This is important because without updates, "smart" devices become unsafe and sometimes even unusable. The ACM applauds this and sees this as a step in the right direction that also needs to be taken by other parties. Another company is therefore still under investigation.
Consumers need to be informed about important features of the product before they make a purchase. Specifically, with smart devices, consumers need to know what the product does, whether it can "work together" with other devices, how things are done with software updates, whether you need other services to use the device, and the use of consumer data. Manufacturers who supply the devices must make this information available to providers, who in turn must inform consumers.
