The EU Data Act’s Switching Framework – A Practical Overview

What You Need to Know

The EU Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854) introduces a comprehensive regime governing switching between data processing services, including cloud and edge computing services.

The Act aims to eliminate vendor lock-in and enable customers to switch providers, use multiple providers simultaneously, or migrate to on-premises infrastructure, with minimal obstacles and reduced costs. The regime applies across Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery models, requiring providers to review and adapt their service contracts, pricing structures, and technical capabilities.

Scope: Data Processing Services

The switching provisions apply to providers of data processing services. These are digital services enabling ubiquitous and on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable, scalable and elastic computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. This definition mirrors common definitions of cloud computing services and is designed to cover the popular delivery models IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS while remaining open to technological innovation.

Although the definition clearly captures traditional infrastructure services – such as virtual servers and storage – its application to complex software services (e.g. cloud-based project management tools, customer relationship management platforms, or industry-specific planning software) is far less straightforward, since these derive their value from business functionality rather than from providing customers with direct access to underlying computing resources and therefore careful assessment of such services against the data processing services definition is required.

Removing Obstacles to Switching and Good Faith

Providers must take active measures to facilitate switching and are prohibited from imposing or maintaining pre-commercial, commercial, technical, contractual or organisational obstacles that inhibit customers from terminating contracts, concluding new contracts with a different provider, porting exportable data and digital assets, achieving functional equivalence, or unbundling individual services from broader service bundles.

All parties involved, including both source and destination providers, are required to cooperate in good faith to make the switching process effective, enable timely data transfer, and maintain continuity of the data processing service.

Key Contractual Requirements

The Data Act mandates that switching rights and provider obligations be clearly set out in a written contract made available to the customer prior to signing. The contract must include:

• Transitional Period: Clauses allowing the customer to switch to a different provider or port all exportable data and digital assets to on-premises infrastructure without undue delay and not after a mandatory maximum transitional period of 30 calendar days. During this period, the provider must provide reasonable assistance, maintain business continuity, provide clear information on continuity risks, and ensure a high level of security.
• Notice Period: A maximum notice period for initiation of the switching process of not more than two months. The notice period begins once the customer notifies the provider of their desire to switch, and the transition period (maximum 30 calendar days) starts after the notice period ends.
• Specification of Data: An exhaustive specification of all categories of data and digital assets that can be ported during the switching process, including at minimum all exportable data, as well as categories exempted from exportable data where trade secret risks exist.
• Data Retrieval Period: A minimum period for data retrieval of at least 30 calendar days after the transitional period.
• Data Erasure Guarantee: A clause guaranteeing full erasure of all exportable data and digital assets generated by or relating to the customer after the retrieval period expires.

If the 30-day transitional period is technically unfeasible, the provider must notify the customer within 14 working days, provide a duly justified explanation, and indicate an alternative period not exceeding seven months.

Gradual Withdrawal of Switching Charges

From 12 January 2027: Providers may not impose any switching charges on the customer for the switching process.

From 11 January 2024 to 12 January 2027: Providers must reduce any switching charges so that they are limited to the costs actually incurred in order to make the switching operation happen.
Switching charges are distinct from standard service fees and early termination penalties, which may continue to apply.

Information and Transparency Obligations

Providers are required to supply customers with detailed information on switching and porting procedures and to maintain an up-to-date online register of all relevant data structures, formats, and interoperability specifications. They must also publish details of the jurisdiction to which their ICT infrastructure is subject and the measures adopted to prevent unlawful international governmental access to non-personal data held in the Union.

Functional Equivalence and Interoperability

Providers are also obliged to support functional equivalence and interoperability when customers switch between services, with the specific requirements varying depending on whether the provider offers IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS.

Exemptions

Certain exemptions apply, most notably for services where the majority of main features have been custom-built for an individual customer and are not offered at broad commercial scale, though even exempt services remain subject to some Chapter VI obligations.

Further exemptions may be introduced for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small mid-cap companies (SMCs), as well as custom-made data processing solutions. The Digital Omnibus proposes to exempt custom-made services, other than IaaS, from the switching provisions for contracts concluded before 12 September 2025, and to establish a lighter regime for non-IaaS data processing services provided by SMEs and SMCs.¹

European Commission MCTs and SCCs

On 19 November 2025, the Commission published a draft recommendation on non- binding standard contractual clauses (SCCs) for cloud computing contracts. The SCCs provide a set of modular clauses covering switching and exit, termination, security and business continuity, non-dispersion, liability, and non-amendment, which can be used together or separately and are intended to be inserted into data processing services agreements.

Irish Implementation: The General Scheme of the Data Bill 2025

In February 2026, the Irish Government published the General Scheme of the Data Bill 2025, which sets out the proposed legislative framework for transposing the Data Act into Irish law. While the Bill itself has not yet been published, the General Scheme provides important early insight into how the switching and interoperability framework will be enforced in Ireland.

The General Scheme designates the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) as the competent authority responsible for overseeing compliance with Articles 23 to 31 (switching between data processing services). Providers should note that administrative financial sanctions for breaches of the Data Act may be significant – up to 4% of annual EU turnover for undertakings, or up to €500,000 for natural persons.

Data Act Unfair Terms

The switching regime complements the Data Act’s broader framework. It sits alongside the Act’s unfair contractual terms provisions in Chapter IV, which regulate unilaterally imposed terms in data-related contracts and may apply to terms governing liability, termination, and data use in cloud computing agreements. A practical overview of these unfair terms rules is set out in our separate update, The EU Data Act’s Unfair Terms Rules – A Practical Overview.²

Practical Compliance Steps

Organisations should take a structured approach to compliance with the switching framework, both as customers negotiating cloud services and as providers offering such services. Priority actions include:

• reviewing existing cloud service contracts to ensure compliance with the mandatory contractual terms requirements, including transitional periods, notice periods, and data retrieval obligations;
• updating service catalogues and customer-facing documentation to include required information on switching procedures, data formats, and open interoperability specifications;
• preparing for the gradual elimination of switching charges and adjusting pricing models accordingly;
• assessing technical capabilities to facilitate functional equivalence and interoperability, including the development of open interfaces and compatibility with harmonised standards; and
• considering the Commission’s standard contractual clauses for cloud computing as a reference point for fair drafting and compliance alignment.

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¹ https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/digital-omnibus-regulation-proposal

² https://maples.com/knowledge/the-eu-data-acts-unfair-terms-rules-a-practical-overview