The European Data Act: Developments of 2024 and its future
On 11 January, 2024, the official press release
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/european-data-act-enters-force-putting-place-new-rules-fair-and-innovative-data-economy]
announcing that the European Data Act
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/data-act] entered
into force was published. Almost a year later, we look back at the
developments of the past year and simultaneously forward to what comes
next for the Data Act. Aiming to support a more competitive and
innovative data economy by improving access to data in the EU market
[https://commission.europa.eu/news/data-act-enters-force-what-it-means-you-2024-01-11_en],
the open data landscape shifted with the introduction of the Data
Act. 

The Data Act will officially become applicable in September 2025
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/data-act], so in
2024 organisations can start preparing their access to data according
to the new rules. These new rules make consumers and businesses
benefit from multiple things, such as cheaper prices for reparation of
smart devices, better access to data collected by devices, and reduced
costs when moving your data to a different cloud provider
[https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/european-data-strategy_en#european-data-act].
Additionally, informed decision-making will become easier with
increased data access, so you can choose a more sustainable
option.  

A key component of the Data Act is its alignment with data.europa
[https://data.europa.eu/en]. Our portal provides a point of access
for more than 1.7 million datasets
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en], supporting the Data
Act’s goal of making data more accessible and usable. With the
application of the Data Act in 2025, more data will become available
with an estimated increase of 530% in global data volume and an
increase to almost 11 million data professionals
[https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/european-data-strategy_en#european-data-act].  

Looking ahead, the European Data Act is set to introduce further
enhancements aimed at strengthening the EU’s data
economy. Upcoming initiatives include the development of new
frameworks for data interoperability and the promotion of cross-border
data flows, so stay tuned for new updates!  

For more news and events, follow us on X/Twitter
[https://twitter.com/EU_opendata], Facebook
[https://www.facebook.com/data.europa.eu] and LinkedIn
[https://www.linkedin.com/company/publications-office-of-the-european-union/],
or subscribe to our newsletter
[https://data.europa.eu/en/newsletter]. 

Publication Date/Time
2024-11-25T09:00:00+00:00
Shaping the digital landscape will continue with application in 2025