ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the 2019 EU Directive on Contracts for the Supply of Digital Content and Digital Services (DCSD) and its likely impact on the contract law of two European jurisdictions. One of the triggers for the European Commission’s proposal in this field was the fact that Member States were starting to legislate on this topic, notably with the introduction of the UK Consumer Rights Act 2015 which has a specific section on business to consumer (B2C) contracts to supply digital content. Ireland was also ready to follow the UK’s lead, but, in the light of the Commission’s 2015 proposal for a directive on digital content, put its draft Bill on hold. Following Brexit, the UK has now left the EU, but Ireland remains. This chapter will examine the likely impact of the DCSD on these two primarily common law legal systems, one of which has left the EU (UK) and the other which stays (Ireland). Can the UK afford to ignore the new Directive regardless of its long-standing ties with Ireland and its desire to trade with EU states? What will the Directive mean for the traditional common law relationship between the UK and Ireland?
