Is every shipment a placing on the market?

No, only the first. Placing on the market happens once per product, and every subsequent supply is Making available on the market. The distinction matters because the heavyweight manufacturer obligations attach to that first moment.

Does a beta version count?

It depends on whether it is supplied for distribution or use in the course of a commercial activity. A closed test with selected partners under confidentiality is typically not yet a making available. A publicly accessible beta that anyone can download and use generally counts as one, and the obligations then apply. For unfinished software, Article 4(3) does provide that Member States are not to prevent the making available, as long as the software is available only for the limited period required for testing and carries a visible sign clearly indicating that it does not comply.

What about products already on the market before the cut-off?

The CRA attaches to placing on the market. For products placed before it, the requirements do not apply retroactively unless the product subsequently undergoes a Substantial modification, in which case the modified product has to be assessed anew.

Cyber Resilience Act

Placing on the market

Legal definition Art. 3(21) CRA

“the first making available of a product with digital elements on the Union market”

Regulation (EU) 2024/2847, Art. 3(21) CRA

Placing on the market is the sharpest moment in the whole Cyber Resilience Act (CRA): the first making available of a product on the Union market. By then the Conformity assessment, the Technical documentation, the EU declaration of conformity and the CE marking all have to be in place.

The term is deliberately plain, and all its force sits in the word first.

Once per unit, not once per product line

Each individual unit is placed on the market exactly once, when the manufacturer first supplies it. Recital 38 says so explicitly: the essential requirements apply to each individual product when it is placed on the market, whether it was manufactured individually or in series. The thousandth device of a line is therefore placed on the market too, and at that moment it has to be current, carrying every available security patch.

What is not another placing is a unit travelling further down the chain: resale through a distributor and onward selling are Making available on the market. The distinction is not product line versus unit, but the first supply versus every later one.

That produces the division of roles: the obligations around assessment and documentation fall on whoever takes the first step. Those further down the chain have their own, much lighter duties. The Importer and the Distributor essentially verify that the manufacturer did its work.

What the moment means

In practice, placing on the market is a deadline, not a formality. Planning a launch means simultaneously planning the point by which the conformity documents must be complete.

That has consequences for project planning: the assessment cannot be caught up in the weeks after launch. It has to run alongside development, because its evidence is created where decisions are taken.

For software the moment blurs, but the obligation does not

For hardware the moment is usually easy to pin down. For software it blurs: is it publication in the store, enabling the download, the first paying customer?

What governs is the point at which the product is supplied for distribution or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity. If in doubt, assume the earliest plausible moment and finish the documents accordingly early. The alternative is having to justify market access retrospectively.

Practical questions

: No, only the first. Placing on the market happens once per product, and every subsequent supply is Making available on the market. The distinction matters because the heavyweight manufacturer obligations attach to that first moment.
: It depends on whether it is supplied for distribution or use in the course of a commercial activity. A closed test with selected partners under confidentiality is typically not yet a making available. A publicly accessible beta that anyone can download and use generally counts as one, and the obligations then apply. For unfinished software, Article 4(3) does provide that Member States are not to prevent the making available, as long as the software is available only for the limited period required for testing and carries a visible sign clearly indicating that it does not comply.
: The CRA attaches to placing on the market. For products placed before it, the requirements do not apply retroactively unless the product subsequently undergoes a Substantial modification, in which case the modified product has to be assessed anew.

This glossary is for orientation and does not constitute legal advice. The wording of Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 prevails.