EU Data Act

Statute European Union

The EU Data Act is the one that points at the API. Most regimes in this catalog tell a company what it may not do with data it holds; the Data Act tells it who else is entitled to reach that data, and requires the means to move between providers. Users of connected products can obtain the data those products generate and direct it to a third party, and cloud providers must support switching without punitive charges or artificial friction.

• Access to connected-product data - The user of a device can get the data it generates, and nominate a third party to receive it.
• Switching between processing services - Cloud and data-processing providers must enable migration, with charges phased down and contractual obstacles removed.
• Interoperability requirements - Obligations pointed at the technical means of moving data, not only at the right to ask.
• Business-to-business fairness - Unfair contractual terms about data access become unenforceable against smaller counterparties.
• Safeguards for trade secrets - Access is not unconditional, and the balance between disclosure and protection is where implementation gets argued.

For anyone reading these reports, the Data Act is the regime worth watching most closely. Every market API Evangelist has scored shows the same pattern — regulation compels records and rarely compels an interface — and this is the first significant exception. The State of Data & Analytics APIs notes it as the one rule in a nine-regime table aimed at interfaces rather than at use, and The State of Marketing & Advertising APIs the same. Whether the response is portals or contracts will decide whether the next five years in these markets produce APIs or PDFs.