The EU Data Act has taken effect, introducing wide-ranging new rules in relation to connected products which will apply to manufacturers of connected products that are placed on the market in the EU, as well as providers of related services and data holders irrespective of their place of establishment.

One of the key objectives of the Act is to empower users of connected products to have more control over the data they generate using these products, as well as so-called ‘related services’ which make a connected product behave in a certain manner, such as an app to control its settings.

Under the Act, both individuals and businesses that use connected products are granted extensive rights to access and share data generated by their use of the products and related services. To achieve this, companies that make the products must have a contract in place with the user defining the rights regarding the access, use and sharing of the data generated by the use of the product. Similarly, they are expected to have mechanisms in place that provide users with information on the type of data they will generate, to have a simple process for users to request access to their data, and to make the data available to the users for free. Users will also be able to ask the data holder to share their data with a third party, and any sharing by data holders must be on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.

The Act also contains provisions on, among other things, unfair contractual tems, business-to-government data sharing, and switching data processing services.

To read more about the Act, and access helpful information such as an explanatory note and list of FAQs, click here.