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Chapter V – Making data available to public sector bodies, the Commission, the European central bank and union bodies on the basis of and exceptional need (Art. 14-22)

Art. 14 Data Act - Obligation to make data available on the basis of an exceptional need arrow_right_alt

Art. 15 Data Act - Exceptional need to use data arrow_right_alt

  1. An exceptional need to use certain data within the meaning of this Chapter shall be limited in time and scope and shall be considered to exist only in any of the following circumstances:
    1. where the data requested is necessary to respond to a public emergency and the public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or the Union body is unable to obtain such data by alternative means in a timely and effective manner under equivalent conditions;
    2. in circumstances not covered by point (a) and only insofar as non-personal data is concerned, where:
      1. a public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body is acting on the basis of Union or national law and has identified specific data, the lack of which prevents it from fulfilling a specific task carried out in the public interest, that has been explicitly provided for by law, such as the production of official statistics or the mitigation of or recovery from a public emergency; and
      2. the public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or the Union body has exhausted all other means at its disposal to obtain such data, including purchase of non-personal data on the market by offering market rates, or by relying on existing obligations to make data available or the adoption of new legislative measures which could guarantee the timely availability of the data.
  2. Paragraph 1, point (b), shall not apply to microenterprises and small enterprises.
  3. The obligation to demonstrate that the public sector body was unable to obtain non-personal data by purchasing them on the market shall not apply where the specific task carried out in the public interest is the production of official statistics and where the purchase of such data is not allowed by national law.
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  • 66
  • 67

Recital 64

In the case of public emergencies, such as public health emergencies, emergencies resulting from natural disasters including those aggravated by climate change and environmental degradation, as well as human-induced major disasters, such as major cybersecurity incidents, the public interest resulting from the use of the data will outweigh the interests of the data holders to dispose freely of the data they hold. In such a case, data holders should be placed under an obligation to make the data available to public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank or Union bodies upon their request. The existence of a public emergency should be determined or declared in accordance with Union or national law and based on the relevant procedures, including those of the relevant international organisations. In such cases, the public sector body should demonstrate that the data in scope of the request could not otherwise be obtained in a timely and effective manner and under equivalent conditions, for instance by way of the voluntary provision of data by another enterprise or the consultation of a public database.

Recital 65

An exceptional need may also arise from non-emergency situations. In such cases, a public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body should be allowed to request only non-personal data. The public sector body should demonstrate that the data are necessary for the fulfilment of a specific task carried out in the public interest that has been explicitly provided for by law, such as the production of official statistics or the mitigation of or recovery from a public emergency. In addition, such a request can be made only when the public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body has identified specific data that could not otherwise be obtained in a timely and effective manner and under equivalent conditions and only if it has exhausted all other means at its disposal to obtain such data, such as obtaining the data through voluntary agreements, including purchasing of non-personal data on the market by offering market rates, or by relying on existing obligations to make data available or the adoption of new legislative measures which could guarantee the timely availability of data. The conditions and principles governing requests, such as those related to purpose limitation, proportionality, transparency and time limitation, should also apply. In cases of requests for data necessary for the production of official statistics, the requesting public sector body should also demonstrate whether the national law allows it to purchase non-personal data on the market.

Recital 66

This Regulation should not apply to, or pre-empt, voluntary arrangements for the exchange of data between private and public entities, including the provision of data by SMEs, and is without prejudice to Union legal acts providing for mandatory information requests by public entities to private entities. Obligations placed on data holders to provide data that are motivated by needs of a non-exceptional nature, in particular where the range of data and of data holders is known or where data use can take place on a regular basis, as in the case of reporting obligations and internal market obligations, should not be affected by this Regulation. Requirements to access data to verify compliance with applicable rules, including where public sector bodies assign the task of the verification of compliance to entities other than public sector bodies, should also not be affected by this Regulation.

Recital 67

This Regulation complements and is without prejudice to the Union and national law providing for access to and the use of data for statistical purposes, in particular Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1) as well as national legal acts related to official statistics.


(1) Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics and repealing Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/EEC, Euratom establishing a Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164).

Art. 16 Data Act - Relationship with other obligations to make data available to public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank and Union bodies arrow_right_alt

Art. 17 Data Act - Requests for data to be made available arrow_right_alt

Art. 18 Data Act - Compliance with requests for data arrow_right_alt

Art. 19 Data Act - Obligations of public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank and Union bodies arrow_right_alt

Art. 20 Data Act - Compensation in cases of an exceptional need arrow_right_alt

Art. 21 Data Act - Sharing of data obtained in the context of an exceptional need with research organisations or statistical bodies arrow_right_alt

Art. 22 Data Act - Mutual assistance and cross-border cooperation arrow_right_alt