Support Period Calculator

This is indeed a source of confusion for many people.

"Placed on the market" means the first time a product is made available on the EU market. The support period clock starts from the moment the last unit of a given product version is placed on the market — not from the first sale.

For example, if you manufacture a product from 2026 to 2029, the support period starts in 2029 when the last unit is sold. This means products with longer sales cycles will have longer total obligation periods.

If you are making standalone software which is supplied to customer via download, the support period starts from the moment you've made the last "major version" available on the market. Each time you make a "substantial modification", the software product is again considered as "placed on the market" (and a new support period begins).

Mainly, it should reflect the length of time during which the product is expected to be in use.

The following additional parameters should be considered to determine the support period length: expectation of users, nature of product and its intended purpose, relevant Union law, the support period of similar products and some other, more technical parameters.

While the law also mentions 5 years as a minimum, this is not a hard requirement. It should also not be used as the default.