The changes are expected to radically alter the market dynamics both between service providers and their customers and among competing service providers.

By Gail E. Crawford, Susan Kempe-Mueller, Fiona M. Maclean, Myria Saarinen, Tim Wybitul, Alain Traill, and Komal Shemar

In the rapidly evolving landscape of European tech regulation, the Data Act introduces changes with the potential to reshape established market dynamics, presenting significant challenges and opportunities for affected organisations. The Data Act is a wide-ranging law that seeks to promote competition and new product and service development in the technology and data markets by removing lock-in barriers, whereby existing providers or holders of data are perceived to be unduly advantaged (and their customers disadvantaged) by access to and control over that data.

One key aspect of the Data Act is the introduction of significant new service-switching requirements on providers of “data processing services”, the majority of which take effect on 12 September 2025. This article examines these new switching requirements, provides key takeaways for data processing service providers and their customers, and analyses the broader implications of the changes.

Read the article.