The European Commission provides preliminary interpretation of the Data Act regulation

• The European Commission released a FAQs document on the Data Act interpretation to assist stakeholders with implementation.

• The document is a 'living document' and may undergo future updates based on ongoing feedback and consultations.

• The Commission reversed its initial stance on certain controversial elements, including the types of data in scope and the 'design obligation'.

• Only 'raw but usable data' generated or collected after 12 September 2025 will be subject to mandatory data sharing.

• Manufacturers are not obliged to grant direct access to data in all situations; access can be direct, indirect, or a combination, based on technical feasibility.

• The Commission will publish guidance on reasonable compensation and adopt Model Contractual Terms before the Data Act's application date.

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On 6th September, the European Commission published its long-awaited Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document on the Data Act interpretation. Designed to assist stakeholders in the implementation of the Data Act legal provisions, this set of technical questions is defined as a ‘living document’, open to further changes and future updates. The document, published approximately one year before the Data Act enters into application, is the result of a series of sectoral workshops and stakeholder’s consultations held by the Commission over the past year.

From preliminary feedback, the Commission’s interpretation was positively received by CECE experts. It is worth noting that the Commission reversed its initial position on certain controversial elements of the new regulation, notably on the types of data in scope and the entry into application of the so called ‘design obligation’.

Specifically, the document clarifies that only ‘raw but usable data’ that are readily available to a data holder as a result of the manufacturer’s technical design (thus, ‘readily available data’ according to the Data Act definition) are to be considered in scope of mandatory data sharing. Most importantly, only readily available data generated and/or collected after the entry into application of the Data Act (12 September 2025) can be subject to the new obligations. On this point, the Commission reversed its original position to avoid the risk of any potential retrospective application of the Data Act provisions, in line with the concerns expressed by the industry in relation to the excessive burden imposed on manufacturers/data holders.

In addition, the interpretation provided by the Commission on the application of the ‘design obligation’ clarifies that Article 3(1) does not oblige manufacturers to grant direct access to data in all situations, and for all connected products after September 2026. Contrarily to what initially taken, data should be ‘directly accessible’ to the user ‘where relevant and technically feasible’. According to the FAQs document, this formulation gives some flexibility to manufacturers on their discretion to decide whether a connected product can be designed in a way that provides users with either ‘uncontrolled’, direct access or access via a remote server.

Different configurations are thus viable: manufacturers may choose to design the connected product in such a way that all or part of the product data is directly accessible or may enable only indirect access.

As a conclusion, the Data Act allows manufacturers to choose, when designing a connected product (or a related service), whether readily available data can be made accessible by the user directly, indirectly or as a combination of both. Furthermore, direct access, when granted, is not unconditional. The manufacturer can indeed contractually oblige the user to protect certain data that are made directly accessible.

On the next implementation steps, the Commission confirms that a guidance on calculating reasonable compensation will be published after the Data Act becomes applicable. The Commission will also adopt the Model Contractual Terms (MCTs) which are currently under development within the Expert Group on B2B data sharing contracts in the form of a recommendation before 12 September 2025 (date of entry into application of the Data Act).

In CECE, a specific ad-hoc group of experts was established earlier this year with a view to working on the development of a common industry guidance for the implementation of the Data Act data sharing obligations.