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Summaries of EU Legislation

Rules on fair access to and use of data (Data Act)

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data (Data Act)

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

The regulation, also known as the Data Act, addresses a number of challenges and opportunities presented by data1 in the European Union (EU), emphasising fair access and user rights, while ensuring that personal data is protected. Its aims include:

  • guaranteeing a fair distribution of the benefits derived from data amongst stakeholders;
  • stimulating a competitive data market;
  • opening up opportunities for data-driven innovation; and
  • making data, in particular data generated by connected products, more accessible.

KEY POINTS

The regulation ensures fairness in the allocation of the value of data amongst the stakeholders in the data economy. It clarifies who can use what data and under which conditions.

To this end, it includes measures to allow users of connected products, ranging from smartphones and smart household appliances to intelligent industrial machines, to get access to data generated by their use. In addition, it comprises measures to increase legal certainty in relation to data access and use, in particular in the context of connected products, such as:

  • clear rules on the permissible use of data and the conditions that apply;
  • continued incentives for data holders to invest in high-quality data generation;
  • rules facilitating the seamless transfer of valuable data between data holders and data users while preserving confidentiality;
  • incentives encouraging more individuals and entities, whatever their size, to participate in the data economy;
  • rules on users’ rights to share data with third parties;
  • rules on protecting trade secrets and intellectual property rights, with safeguards against abusive behaviour; and
  • a system of reasonable compensation for making data available and a dispute settlement mechanism.

Other measures include the following.

  • Mitigating the abuse of unfair contracts that impede equitable data sharing. This entails:
    • safeguarding enterprises from unjust contractual terms imposed by parties in stronger market positions; and
    • developing model contract wording to help market participants draft and negotiate fair data-sharing contracts.
  • Enabling public sector bodies to access and use certain data held by the private sector, for example to help in their response to public emergencies.
  • Facilitating switching between data-processing service providers to unlock the cloud market in the EU, and the gradual withdrawal of switching charges, contributing to more efficient data interoperability2.
  • Exempting data acquired through connected products from the provisions of Directive 96/9/EC, the database directive.
  • Safeguarding against unlawful third-party government access to non-personal data.
  • Enhancing data interoperability, data-sharing mechanisms and services, and common European data spaces.

This regulation does not affect EU or national legal acts providing for the sharing of, access to and the use of data for the purpose of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or for the execution of criminal penalties, or for customs and taxation purposes.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

The regulation entered into force on and applies from .

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

KEY TERMS

  1. Data. Any digital representation of acts, facts or information and any compilation of such acts, facts or information, including in the form of sound, visual or audiovisual recording.
  2. Interoperability. The ability of two or more data spaces or communication networks, systems, connected products, applications, data processing services or components to exchange and use data in order to perform their functions.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 of the European Parliament and of the Council of on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 and Directive (EU) 2020/1828 (Data Act) (OJ L, 2023/2854, ).

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