Late yesterday, the EU institutions reached political agreement on the European Data Act (see the European Commission’s press release here and the Council’s press release here).  The proposal for a Data Act was first tabled by the European Commission in February 2022 as a key piece of the European Strategy for Data (see our previous blogpost here). The Data Act will sit alongside the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), Data Governance Act, Digital Services Act, and the Digital Markets Act.

The political agreement has not yet been published, and the Council and Parliament still need to vote on the agreed proposal before it is adopted. While the specific agreement thus remains to be determined, the Data Act is expected to introduce:

• Measures enabling users of connected devices covered by the Act to access and port certain data generated by these devices and by “related services”;
• Measures regulating contractual terms in data sharing contracts;
• New rules governing switching among different cloud services;
• Measures to promote the development of interoperability standards; and
• Mechanisms for public sector bodies to access and use private sector data in case of certain public emergencies.

Next Steps

The political agreement reached today is now subject to formal approval by the European Parliament and the Council. Once adopted, the Data Act will enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal. The Data Act will have a transition period of 20 months after the entry into force.

The draft of the political agreement reached today is not yet available. Stay tuned to our blog as we continue to report on any developments.