Products with digital elements should be considered to be important if the negative impact of the exploitation of potential vulnerabilities in the product can be severe due to, inter alia, the cybersecurity-related functionality or a function carrying a significant risk of adverse effects in terms of its intensity and ability to disrupt, control or cause damage to a large number of other products with digital elements or to the health, security or safety of its users through direct manipulation, such as a central system function, including network management, configuration control, virtualisation or processing of personal data. In particular, vulnerabilities in products with digital elements that have a cybersecurity-related functionality, such as boot managers, can lead to a propagation of security issues throughout the supply chain. The severity of the impact of an incident may also increase where the product primarily performs a central system function, including network management, configuration control, virtualisation or processing of personal data.

This recital provides context for:

• Article 7 – Important products with digital elements