The Data Act is a European Union regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 of the European Parliament and of the Council) which aims to facilitate and promote the exchange and use of data within the European Economic Area.
The act was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 22 December 2023.
History The European Commission was expected to formally present the act in the fourth quarter of 2021. The provisions on switching between data processing services were preceded by the SWIPO (Switching Cloud Providers and Porting Data) initiative, established in the context of Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1807 on the free flow of non-personal data. SWIPO developed separate codes of conduct for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).. When preparing the Data Act, the European Commission assessed the existing self-regulatory approach related to the Free Flow of non personal Data Regulation. Its impact assessment recorded limited uptake of the SWIPO codes and found that they concentrated mainly on pre-contractual transparency rather than removing all technical and economic obstacles to switching. The Commission considered policy options ranging from improving the existing voluntary framework to introducing binding requirements for switching between data processing services. Notwithstanding, the proposal was formally issued on 23February 2022.
European (harmonised) standards may be drafted by the European Standardization Organizations (ESOs) following standardisation requests from the European Commission in order to support the application of the requirement that 'products shall be designed and manufactured, and related services shall be provided, in such a manner that data generated by their use are, by default, easily, securely and, where relevant and appropriate, directly accessible to the user'. In addition, European standards and technical specifications in the meaning of Article II of Regulation (EU) 1025/2012 on European Standardisation may also support the issuing of "standard" contracts or transparency on how data will be used.
A draft of the proposed act had earlier been leaked on 2 February 2022, and was swiftly opposed by industry.
If implemented in its proposed form the Act would impact on data rights current under Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases (the Database Directive).
On 27 June 2023, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the final version. This was adopted by the Council on 27 November 2023 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 22 December 2023.
Timeline On 11 January 2024, the Data Act entered into force. 12 September 2025: General applicability. This means that users must be granted access to their data under the condition of the Data Act. 12 September 2026: Products placed on the EU market must be designed in a manner to provide direct access to the user's data.
See also Data Governance Act General Data Protection Regulation Artificial Intelligence Act Digital Services Act Digital Markets Act European Health Data Space SWIPO (cloud computing)
References
External links Official version of the Data Act on EUR-lex European Parliament Legislative Train Schedule European Commission Press, background to Data Act: Commission proposes measures to boost data sharing and support European data spaces