INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
European Data Act enters into force, putting in place new rules for a fair and innovative data economy.
The Data Act will ensure fairness in the digital environment by clarifying who can create value from data and under which conditions. It will also stimulate a competitive and innovative data market by unlocking industrial data, and by providing legal clarity as regards the use of data.
Measures to boost the EU's data economy.
In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of connected devices in the European market. The use of connected objects (or the Internet of Things) generates increasing amounts of data. This represents a huge potential for innovation and competitiveness in the EU.
The new rules enable users of connected products to access the data generated by these devices, and to share such data with third parties. For example, the owner of a connected car or the operator of a wind turbine will be able to request the manufacturer to share certain data generated by the use of these connected products with a repair service of the owner’s choice. This will give more control to consumers and to other users of connected products and it will boost aftermarket services and innovation. Incentives for manufacturers to invest in data-generating products and services will be preserved, and their trade secrets will remain protected.
Public sector bodies will be able to access and use data held by the private sector to help respond to public emergencies such as floods and wildfires, or when implementing a legal mandate where the required data is not readily available through other means.
The Data Act also protects European businesses from unfair contractual terms in data sharing contracts that one contracting party unilaterally imposes on the other. This will enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in particular, to participate more actively in the data market.
Furthermore, the Data Act will allow customers to switch seamlessly (and eventually free of charge) between different cloud providers. These measures will promote competition and choice on the market while preventing vendor lock-in. For instance, any European enterprise could combine data services from different cloud providers (“multi-cloud”) and benefit from the vast opportunities in the EU cloud market. It will also drastically reduce costs for businesses and administrations when they move their data and applications to a different cloud provider.
The Data Act also includes safeguards against unlawful requests by third-country authorities to transfer or access non-personal data held in the EU, ensuring a more reliable and secure data-processing environment.
Finally, the Data Act introduces measures to promote the development of interoperability standards for data-sharing and for data processing services, in line with the EU standardisation strategy.
Following its entry into force, the Data Act will become applicable in 20 months, i.e. 12 September 2025.
Measures to boost the EU's data economy.
In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of connected devices in the European market. The use of connected objects (or the Internet of Things) generates increasing amounts of data. This represents a huge potential for innovation and competitiveness in the EU.
The new rules enable users of connected products to access the data generated by these devices, and to share such data with third parties. For example, the owner of a connected car or the operator of a wind turbine will be able to request the manufacturer to share certain data generated by the use of these connected products with a repair service of the owner’s choice. This will give more control to consumers and to other users of connected products and it will boost aftermarket services and innovation. Incentives for manufacturers to invest in data-generating products and services will be preserved, and their trade secrets will remain protected.
Public sector bodies will be able to access and use data held by the private sector to help respond to public emergencies such as floods and wildfires, or when implementing a legal mandate where the required data is not readily available through other means.
The Data Act also protects European businesses from unfair contractual terms in data sharing contracts that one contracting party unilaterally imposes on the other. This will enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in particular, to participate more actively in the data market.
Furthermore, the Data Act will allow customers to switch seamlessly (and eventually free of charge) between different cloud providers. These measures will promote competition and choice on the market while preventing vendor lock-in. For instance, any European enterprise could combine data services from different cloud providers (“multi-cloud”) and benefit from the vast opportunities in the EU cloud market. It will also drastically reduce costs for businesses and administrations when they move their data and applications to a different cloud provider.
The Data Act also includes safeguards against unlawful requests by third-country authorities to transfer or access non-personal data held in the EU, ensuring a more reliable and secure data-processing environment.
Finally, the Data Act introduces measures to promote the development of interoperability standards for data-sharing and for data processing services, in line with the EU standardisation strategy.
Following its entry into force, the Data Act will become applicable in 20 months, i.e. 12 September 2025.
