Art. 19 Obligations of public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank and Union bodies | Data act regulation | Data act

This article sets out the obligations and restrictions that apply to public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank, Union bodies, and third parties once they have received data following a request under Article 14.

It functions as the counterpart to the data request mechanism established in that article, focusing on how the data must be handled after it has been obtained.

The article covers three broad areas: restrictions on how data may be used, protections for trade secrets, and accountability for data security.

Important points:

Public sector bodies, the Commission, the European Central Bank, and Union bodies receiving data must not use it beyond the purpose for which it was requested, must erase it once no longer needed, and are fully responsible for the security of the data they receive.
Neither these bodies nor any third party receiving data under this Chapter may use the data, or insights derived from it, to develop or enhance a competing connected product or related service, or share it with another third party for that purpose.
Disclosure of trade secrets must be limited to what is strictly necessary, and the receiving public body must take all necessary and appropriate technical and organisational measures to preserve their confidentiality before any such disclosure occurs.

1. A public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body receiving data pursuant to a request made under Article 14 shall:
  1. not use the data in a manner incompatible with the purpose for which they were requested;
  2. have implemented technical and organisational measures that preserve the confidentiality and integrity of the requested data and the security of the data transfers, in particular personal data, and safeguard the rights and freedoms of data subjects;
  3. erase the data as soon as they are no longer necessary for the stated purpose and inform the data holder and individuals or organisations that received the data pursuant to Article 21(1) without undue delay that the data have been erased, unless archiving of the data is required in accordance with Union or national law on public access to documents in the context of transparency obligations.
1. A public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank, a Union body or a third party receiving data under this Chapter shall not:
  1. use the data or insights about the economic situation, assets and production or operation methods of the data holder to develop or enhance a connected product or related service that competes with the connected product or related service of the data holder;
  2. share the data with another third party for any of the purposes referred to in point (a).
1. Disclosure of trade secrets to a public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body shall be required only to the extent that it is strictly necessary to achieve the purpose of a request under Article 15. In such a case, the data holder or, where they are not the same person, the trade secret holder shall identify the data which are protected as trade secrets, including in the relevant metadata. The public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or the Union body shall, prior to the disclosure of trade secrets, take all necessary and appropriate technical and organisational measures to preserve the confidentiality of the trade secrets, including, as appropriate, the use of model contractual terms, technical standards and the application of codes of conduct.
1. A public sector body, the Commission, the European Central Bank or a Union body shall be responsible for the security of the data it receives.