The EC’s Data Act – a positive turn in our call for a balanced cloud market

One key Fair Principle strongly defended by the four associations is Number 2: “Vendors shall not create any technical or commercial lock-in”. This has been a talking point between the voices of the business users and the European Commission for many years.

The Data Act takes this straight on. In article 25, “General withdrawal of switching costs,” it specifies that switching costs must drop to zero three years after the act goes into effect. This is of course only a proposal right now: some groups will be lobbying to eliminate this article, while others (including ourselves) will work to reduce those three years.

A fair data economy

But this is not the only article of the Data Act that impacts vendor lock-in. The objective of the Data Act is to create a fair data economy, by ensuring access and use of data. One of the most important parts of the Data Act is about Internet of Things and data sharing. Article 3 covers the “Obligation to make data generated by the use of products or related services accessible.” Article 5 then addresses the user’s “Right to share data with third parties”.

To produce data, at least two actors are required: the manufacturer of the object and the user of the product. In some sectors only one actor holds the data, for example the manufacturer. This means there is no room for smaller players or start-ups to develop innovative new applications, which puts a damper on the development of the data economy.

Refinements and clarifications

Beltug and its sister associations welcome the Data Act, but we believe there are still refinements and clarifications to improve it. Specifically, balancing trade secrets with open access to data is complex, and must be explicitly managed to create confidence in the market.

There are many aspects of the Data Act that must be analysed and rules to be defined. The next 12 to 18 months will be decisive.

Click here for more information on the 11 Fair Principles.