The purpose of the requirement for an appliance to be activated and functional is to ensure that the product will be working with the functionalities that make it compliant with the Regulation but does not mean the inclusion of settings that are incompatible with each other or contrary to the users’ preferences. Possible factory settings that would imply that a function is activated and functional could be that input from the user is expressly required when the appliance is put into service for the first time (for instance time or temperature programming), not being necessary to program the appliance in the factory with specific times and temperatures. It could also be possible to give the user the option to deactivate a functionality. In this latter case the user should be, at least, asked the first time the product is put into service if they want to use the functionality. It is important that the deactivation of a specific feature requires some well-defined process or activity, especially when a functionality provides the necessary bonus for the product to be compliant with the Regulation. In any case, the product must come back to the same initial factory settings when it has been reset.
Disclaimer: Please note that the European Commission cannot provide a legally binding interpretation of the EU legislation, as this is the sole competence of the European Court of Justice. Any remarks from the European Commission services are without prejudice to the position the Commission might take should related cases arise in a procedure before the Court of Justice.