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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

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

  1. When requesting data pursuant to Article 14, a public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body shall:
    1. specify the data required, including the relevant metadata necessary to interpret and use those data;
    2. demonstrate that the conditions necessary for the existence of an exceptional need as referred to in Article 15 for the purpose of which the data are requested are met;
    3. explain the purpose of the request, the intended use of the data requested, including, where applicable, by a third party in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article, the duration of that use, and, where relevant, how the processing of personal data is to address the exceptional need;
    4. specify, if possible, when the data are expected to be erased by all parties that have access to them;
    5. justify the choice of data holder to which the request is addressed;
    6. specify any other public sector bodies or the Commission, European Central Bank or Union bodies and the third parties with which the data requested is expected to be shared with;
    7. where personal data are requested, specify any technical and organisational measures necessary and proportionate to implement data protection principles and necessary safeguards, such as pseudonymisation, and whether anonymisation can be applied by the data holder before making the data available;
    8.  state the legal provision allocating to the requesting public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or the Union body the specific task carried out in the public interest relevant for requesting the data;
    9. specify the deadline by which the data are to be made available and the deadline referred to in Article 18(2) by which the data holder may decline or seek modification of the request;
    10. make its best efforts to avoid compliance with the data request resulting in the data holders’ liability for infringement of Union or national law.
  2. A request for data made pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article shall:
    1. be made in writing and expressed in clear, concise and plain language understandable to the data holder;
    2. be specific regarding the type of data requested and correspond to data which the data holder has control over at the time of the request;
    3. be proportionate to the exceptional need and duly justified, regarding the granularity and volume of the data requested and frequency of access of the data requested;
    4. respect the legitimate aims of the data holder, committing to ensuring the protection of trade secrets in accordance with Article 19(3), and the cost and effort required to make the data available;
    5. concern non-personal data, and only if this is demonstrated to be insufficient to respond to the exceptional need to use data, in accordance with Article 15(1), point (a), request personal data in pseudonymised form and establish the technical and organisational measures that are to be taken to protect the data;
    6. inform the data holder of the penalties that are to be imposed pursuant to Article 40 by the competent authority designated pursuant to Article 37 in the event of non-compliance with the request;
    7. where the request is made by a public sector body, be transmitted to the data coordinator referred to in Article 37 of the Member State where the requesting public sector body is established, who shall make the request publicly available online without undue delay unless the data coordinator considers that such publication would create a risk for public security;
    8. where the request is made by the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body, be made available online without undue delay;
    9. where personal data are requested, be notified without undue delay to the supervisory authority responsible for monitoring the application of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 in the Member State where the public sector body is established.The European Central Bank and Union bodies shall inform the Commission of their requests.
  3. A public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body shall not make data obtained pursuant to this Chapter available for reuse as defined in Article 2, point (2), of Regulation (EU) 2022/868 or Article 2, point (11), of Directive (EU) 2019/1024. Regulation (EU) 2022/868 and Directive (EU) 2019/1024 shall not apply to the data held by public sector bodies obtained pursuant to this Chapter.
  4. Paragraph 3 of this Article does not preclude a public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body to exchange data obtained pursuant to this Chapter with another public sector body or the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body in view of completing the tasks referred to in Article 15, as specified in the request in accordance with paragraph 1, point (f), of this Article or to make the data available to a third party where it has delegated, by means of a publicly available agreement, technical inspections or other functions to that third party. The obligations on public sector bodies pursuant to Article 19, in particular safeguards to preserve the confidentiality of trade secrets, shall apply also to such third parties. Where a public sector
    body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body transmits or makes data available under this paragraph, it shall notify the data holder from whom the data was received without undue delay.
  5. Where the data holder considers that its rights under this Chapter have been infringed by the transmission or making available of data, it may lodge a complaint with the competent authority designated pursuant to Article 37 of the Member State where the data holder is established.
  6. The Commission shall develop a model template for requests pursuant to this Article.
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Recital 69

In accordance with Article 6(1) and (3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, a proportionate, limited and predictable framework at Union level is necessary when providing for the legal basis for the making available of data by data holders, in cases of exceptional needs, to public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank or Union bodies, both to ensure legal certainty and to minimise the administrative burdens placed on businesses. To that end, data requests from public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank or Union bodies to data holders should be specific, transparent and proportionate in their scope of content and their granularity. The purpose of the request and the intended use of the data requested should be specific and clearly explained, while allowing appropriate flexibility for the requesting entity to carry out its specific tasks in the public interest. The request should also respect the legitimate interests of the data holder to whom the request is made. The burden on data holders should be minimised by obliging requesting entities to respect the once-only principle, which prevents the same data from being requested more than once by more than one public sector body or the Commission, the European Central Bank or Union bodies. To ensure transparency, data requests made by the Commission, the European Central Bank or Union bodies should be made public without undue delay by the entity requesting the data. The European Central Bank and Union bodies should inform the Commission of their requests. If the data request has been made by a public sector body, that body should also notify the data coordinator of the Member State where the public sector body is established. Online public availability of all requests should be ensured. Upon the receipt of a notification of a data request, the competent authority can decide to assess the lawfulness of the request and exercise its functions in relation to the enforcement and application of this Regulation. Online public availability of all requests made by public sector bodies should be ensured by the data coordinator.

Recital 70

The objective of the obligation to provide the data is to ensure that public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank or Union bodies have the necessary knowledge to respond to, prevent or recover from public emergencies or to maintain the capacity to fulfil specific tasks explicitly provided for by law. The data obtained by those entities may be commercially sensitive. Therefore, neither Regulation (EU) 2022/868 nor Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1) should apply to data made available under this Regulation and should not be considered as open data available for reuse by third parties. This however should not affect the applicability of Directive (EU) 2019/1024 to the reuse of official statistics for the production of which data obtained pursuant to this Regulation was used, provided the reuse does not include the underlying data. In addition, provided the conditions laid down in this Regulation are met, the possibility of sharing the data for conducting research or for the development, production and dissemination of official statistics should not be affected. Public sector bodies should also be allowed to exchange data obtained pursuant to this Regulation with other public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank or Union bodies in order to address the exceptional needs for which the data has been requested.


(1) Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information (OJ L 172, 26.6.2019, p. 56).

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