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On 12 September 2026, the Data Act, Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, reached its second milestone: connected devices placed on the market from that day must be designed so that their users can access their data. The next one falls on 12 January 2027: cloud providers will no longer be allowed to charge for switching providers.
This briefing from our Infrastructure and cloud section is up to date as of 20 October 2026. It is not legal advice: to read your contracts in light of the regulation, your counsel remains the reference.
In short
From 12 January 2027, a cloud provider can no longer charge switching fees, data egress included.
Since 2024, those fees were already capped at the costs directly linked to switching.
The regulation also frames the process: notice of two months at most, switchover within 30 days in principle, a list of exportable data, at least 30 days to retrieve it.
Since 12 September 2026, a new connected device must make its data accessible to its user by design.
The Data Act in four dates
The regulation has applied since 12 September 2025, but several obligations arrive in stages, according to the analysis by law firm McCann FitzGerald and the text of Article 29:
- 11 January 2024
Cloud switching charges can no longer exceed the costs directly linked to switching.
- 12 September 2025
General application; users of connected devices can access and share their data, and the cloud switching rules apply.
- 12 September 2026
A connected device placed on the market from this date must be designed to give access to its data.
- 12 January 2027
No more cloud switching charges at all.
- 12 September 2027
The ban on unfair contract terms extends to some contracts concluded before September 2025.
Switching cloud providers: what you can demand
Article 29 is clear: from 12 January 2027, “providers of data processing services shall not impose any switching charges on the customer” for the switching process. The Commission’s Data Act page specifies that this also covers data egress charges, the fees that used to make leaving expensive.
The regulation does not stop at price. Its Article 25 requires the cloud contract to contain several commitments, which you can ask to see in yours:
- A notice period of two months at most to start the switch.
- A switchover within 30 days at most, during which the provider supports you; if it deems this technically unfeasible, it must justify it within 14 working days and propose another period, which cannot exceed seven months, without interrupting the service.
- An exhaustive list of exportable data and digital assets, including at least all exportable data.
- At least 30 days to retrieve your data after the transition period.
- Full erasure of your data once the switch has succeeded.
For online software and platforms, the Commission adds that the provider must offer open interfaces and export in a common, machine-readable format.
What the Data Act removes
Fees charged by the provider for switching, data egress included
Open-ended notice and switchover periods
Uncertainty about what can be exported
What it does not remove
The migration work on your side: inventory, testing, switchover
The price of the new provider
Transfer fees charged outside a switch of provider, to check in your contract
The text may still move: the Digital Omnibus, under negotiation, would exempt some custom-built services and small providers of non-infrastructure services for contracts concluded before 12 September 2025. In the Council compromise text analysed in July 2026 by law firm Greenberg Traurig, however, Article 29 on charges still applies to those contracts. The Irish Council presidency aims for an agreement by the end of 2026, according to McCann FitzGerald.
Connected devices: your data, by design
The second strand covers anything that produces data while it runs: connected cars, health devices, industrial or agricultural machinery, the Commission lists. Since 12 September 2025, the user of such a product, consumer or business, can access the data it generates, use it and have it passed to a third party of their choice, except the large platforms designated as gatekeepers. The data holder must make it available at no cost to the user, and cannot use the product’s non-personal data without the user’s agreement.
Since 12 September 2026, this access is no longer just a right to claim: products placed on the market from that date must be designed to make the data accessible by default. The obligation is not retroactive, McCann FitzGerald notes: a fleet of machines bought earlier is only covered by the right of access on request.
For a business running machines, vehicles or sensors, the benefit is concrete: having production data analysed by the provider of its choice, handing maintenance to a third party that reads the same data as the manufacturer, or comparing two suppliers on real measurements.
What it changes for a team of 20 to 500 people
12 January 2027 removes one argument for the status quo: “leaving would cost too much in egress fees”. It does not remove the work. A successful migration is still a project, with its inventory and its tests, as we describe in cloud migration without breaking everything. But the deadline gives you leverage right now, even if you have no plan to leave: a provider that knows you can go without penalty negotiates differently.
Four useful moves before January:
- List your cloud and online software contracts
With their signing date: before or after 12 September 2025, the rules are not quite the same.
- Reread the exit clauses
In light of Article 25: notice, switchover period, list of exportable data, retrieval period.
- Request a real export
Of a representative dataset, and check that it is complete and readable by another tool.
- Estimate the migration work
On your side, the only line the regulation does not remove.
From the field
A migration is judged by verified integrity
On Palmora Property, a property portal we operate, moving the site’s files to object storage covered 51,566 files, or 19 GB: integrity checked file by file, no errors, and 20 GB freed on the server (internal measurement, on our own work for this client, recorded in our service catalogue; not a promise for another migration). What makes leaving possible is not the absence of fees, it is an export you have already verified.
Whether to stay or leave is decided on the full cost, not on exit fees alone: our method for comparing the cost of a SaaS over three years and our breakdown of what drives a cloud bill help. If the issue is dependence on the big American providers, see can Europe do without the US cloud giants, and to build an infrastructure that can move without being rebuilt, the foundation shared by all your cloud projects.
All the digital deadlines of the coming months are in our regulation calendar, and the New Year ones in what changes on 1 January 2027. To take back control of your tools on an infrastructure you control, see our self-hosted stack offer.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Data Act abolish cloud exit fees?
Yes, for switching providers: from 12 January 2027, a cloud provider can no longer charge for that process, data egress included. Between 11 January 2024 and that date, those fees were only capped at the costs directly linked to switching. The migration work on your side still has to be planned.
How quickly must a cloud provider let you leave?
The contract must provide for a notice period of two months at most, then a transition period of 30 days at most for the switchover. If that is technically unfeasible, the provider must justify it within 14 working days and propose another period, of seven months at most. You then have at least 30 days to retrieve your data.
Are my connected machines bought in 2025 covered?
By the right of access, yes: since 12 September 2025, the user of a connected product can request the data it generates and have it passed to a third party of their choice. The design obligation, which requires access by default, only applies to products placed on the market from 12 September 2026.
Will the Digital Omnibus change the Data Act?
It is proposed, not adopted. The text under negotiation would exempt some custom-built services and small providers of non-infrastructure services, for contracts concluded before 12 September 2025. In the version analysed in July 2026, the removal of switching charges would still apply to those contracts.
Sources
- The analysis by law firm McCann FitzGerald (new tab)mccannfitzgerald.com
- Data Act, Article 29, Official Journal text (new tab)springlex.eu
- Commission’s Data Act page (new tab)digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu
- Data Act, Article 25, Official Journal text (new tab)springlex.eu
- Law firm Greenberg Traurig (new tab)gtlaw.com
Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
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