Art. 44 Other Union legal acts governing rights and obligations on data access and use | Data act regulation | Data act

This article is a preservation clause that defines the relationship between this Regulation and other existing or future Union and national legal frameworks.

Rather than overriding or displacing other rules, this Regulation sits alongside them.

Pre-existing data sharing obligations from Union acts in force before 11 January 2024 remain intact, and sector-specific or public-interest Union laws that go further than this Regulation — on technical access, user data rights, or broader matters — are equally left undisturbed.

The one notable carve-out is that scientific research access regimes under Union and national law are also preserved, except where Chapter V (the public sector data access provisions) is concerned.

Important points:

Pre-existing Union law obligations on data sharing between businesses, consumers, and public bodies remain fully in force and are not displaced by this Regulation.
Union law that sets additional or stricter requirements for specific sectors, data spaces, or public interest areas continues to apply alongside this Regulation.
Union and national law governing data access for scientific research purposes is preserved, except in relation to Chapter V of this Regulation.

1. The specific obligations for the making available of data between businesses, between businesses and consumers, and on exceptional basis between businesses and public bodies, in Union legal acts that entered into force on or before 11 January 2024, and delegated or implementing acts pursuant thereto, shall remain unaffected.
1. This Regulation is without prejudice to Union law specifying, in light of the needs of a sector, a common European data space, or an area of public interest, further requirements, in particular in relation to:
  1. technical aspects of data access;
  2. limits on the rights of data holders to access or use certain data provided by users;
  3. aspects going beyond data access and use.
1. This Regulation, with the exception of Chapter V, is without prejudice to Union and national law providing for access to and authorising the use of data for scientific research purposes.