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Data Act and data sharing

Share, license and protect data, and meet the access and switching rules of the Data Act.

Data Act and data sharing

What clients ask us

Must we give users access to the data our connected products generate?

Yes, if you are the data holder of a connected product or related service placed on the EU market. Since 12 September 2025 users must be told before purchase what data is generated, can obtain readily available data on request and can have it shared with a third party. Trade secrets can be protected by agreed confidentiality measures. The design duty applies to products placed on the market after 12 September 2026.

How do we license or share data on fair terms?

Define which data, for what purpose, for how long, and who owns what is derived from it. Where the Data Act requires you to share, terms must be fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory, and compensation reasonable. Add personal data safeguards, confidentiality, audit, warranty limits and return or deletion at the end. A standard supply agreement with the word data added rarely does this. Pitch drafts data licences and sharing agreements.

Can we protect our databases and datasets?

Often, by combining rights: the sui generis database right for substantial investment in a database, copyright for original selection or arrangement, and trade secret law for data kept secret with reasonable protective steps. Contracts decide much of the rest. Note that the database right does not apply to databases holding data generated by connected products. Pitch maps what you hold and reviews the data clauses you sign.

Does the Data Act apply to us if we do not make connected products?

Possibly. The unfair terms rules apply to any business that imposes data-related clauses on another business, the cloud switching rules apply to providers of data processing services, and users of connected products gain rights as customers. Check your standard contracts and cloud agreements even if you make no hardware. Pitch can review these terms against the Act.

Can our customers switch cloud providers freely under the Data Act?

Yes, that is the aim. Providers of cloud and other data processing services must let customers switch or port data, with a maximum notice period and a transition period. Switching charges are being phased out and disappear entirely from 12 January 2027. If you are a provider, review contract terms on termination, export formats and fees. If you are a customer, check what you can claim.

Which data clauses in contracts can the Data Act make unenforceable?

A term on data access and use, or on liability and remedies for it, is not binding if it was unilaterally imposed on another business and is unfair. Some terms are always unfair, such as excluding liability for intentional acts. Typical risk clauses are one-sided changes to data terms, blanket rights over derived data and no liability for data errors. It applies to contracts concluded after 12 September 2025, and to certain older long-term ones from 12 September 2027.

How does the Data Act relate to the GDPR when the data is personal?

The GDPR prevails. The Data Act does not create a legal basis for processing personal data, so a data holder that shares data with a user or third party still needs a lawful basis and must respect data subjects' rights. Data of several people on one device, such as a family car, needs particular care. Align your data sharing terms with your register of processing, and involve your DPO early.

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