Art. 40 Penalties | Data act regulation | Data act

This article establishes the enforcement and penalty framework for the Data Act, placing the primary responsibility on Member States to define and implement penalties for infringements.

Rather than setting fixed EU-wide fines for most breaches, it delegates penalty-setting to national level while requiring that those penalties meet the standard of being effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

The article also connects the Data Act's enforcement to the existing GDPR enforcement machinery, meaning that where infringements touch on personal data obligations under certain chapters, data protection supervisory authorities can step in and apply GDPR-level fines.

Important points:

Member States are required to establish their own national penalty regimes and notify the Commission of these rules by 12 September 2025.
Member States must take into account a non-exhaustive list of criteria when imposing penalties, including the nature and duration of the infringement, any remedial action taken, prior infringements, financial gains made, and the infringing party's annual turnover in the Union.
Supervisory authorities responsible for GDPR application, and the European Data Protection Supervisor, are empowered to impose administrative fines for infringements of specific chapters, up to the amounts referenced in their respective data protection regulations.

1. Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
1. Member States shall by 12 September 2025 notify the Commission of those rules and measures and shall notify it without delay of any subsequent amendment affecting them. The Commission shall regularly update and maintain an easily accessible public register of those measures.
1. Member States shall take into account the recommendations of the EDIB and the following non-exhaustive criteria for the imposition of penalties for infringements of this Regulation:
  1. the nature, gravity, scale and duration of the infringement;
  2. any action taken by the infringing party to mitigate or remedy the damage caused by the infringement;
  3. any previous infringements by the infringing party;
  4. the financial benefits gained or losses avoided by the infringing party due to the infringement, insofar as such benefits or losses can be reliably established;
  5. any other aggravating or mitigating factor applicable to the circumstances of the case;
  6. infringing party’s annual turnover in the preceding financial year in the Union.
1. For infringements of the obligations laid down in Chapter II, III and V of this Regulation, the supervisory authorities responsible for monitoring the application of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 may within their scope of competence impose administrative fines in accordance with Article 83 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and up to the amount referred to in Article 83(5) of that Regulation.
1. For infringements of the obligations laid down in Chapter V of this Regulation, the European Data Protection Supervisor may impose within its scope of competence administrative fines in accordance with Article 66 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 up to the amount referred to in Article 66(3) of that Regulation.