Unlocking Opportunities with the EU Data Act
From 12th September 2025 onwards, the EU Data Act foresees that users of connected products, i.e. natural persons (individuals) and legal persons (such as companies), have the right to gain comprehensive access to data generated by the usage of their Internet of Things (IoT) devices and associated services.
These IoT devices range from smartphones, laptops, connected vehicles, smart factory appliances, latest health technologies, devices of the smart grid (such as smart meters), wearables, smart home appliances, etc.
Formerly, all this data lay exclusively with the manufacturer of the connected product or service, but now the so-called data holder has to provide the product user (so-called data user) with all data surrounding his/her usage of the product. This also includes all relevant metadata necessary to interpret and use those data. The data shall be made:
- readily available,
- accessible to the user without undue delay,
- of the same quality as is available to the data holder,
- easily and securely,
- free of charge,
- in a comprehensive, structured, commonly used and machine-readable format,
- and, where relevant and technically feasible, continuously and in real-time.
This paradigm shift in the ownership of IoT data comprises ground-breaking new possibilities for individual, but especially corporate data users with a large number of connected devices. As a data user, you and your company can now profit from vast amounts of generated usage data in order to become more and more data-driven.
We — from data revolution — want to assist in reaching these goals by providing — if wanted — a full-service of requesting access to the data, receiving, checking the quality of, and refining the data via our platform in order to generate the greatest added value for you, your company, and your data.
And in case product manufacturers (data holders) are not willing to provide access (or only partial access) to the relevant data, the Data Act foresees a financial penalty scheme (though in detail specified by each Member State) that is supposed to enforce compliance as a last resort.