Artikel | 20. January 2026
EU Data Act: What Changes for Cloud Users
What Is the EU Data Act? #
Objective: Greater independence from cloud providers, better data portability, fair market competition.
In force: 11 January 2024. Applicable since 12 September 2025.
Scope: All providers of data processing services serving EU customers (including non-EU providers such as AWS, Azure, Google).
The Three Pillars for Cloud Users #
- Data portability: Customers can take their data with them
- Switching support: Providers must actively support migration to another provider or to on-premises infrastructure
- End of switching charges: Charges for switching and data egress during a switch are phased out
Pillar 1: Data Portability Obligation #
Cloud providers must make it practical for you to extract your data: exportable data in structured, commonly used, machine-readable formats, documented export interfaces, all data and metadata included. The standard transition period for a switch is 30 days, extendable only if technically unfeasible.
In practice: switching between AWS, Azure, Google and European providers becomes a realistic option, lock-in is reduced, and price negotiations gain teeth.
Pillar 2: Switching Support and Functional Equivalence #
Providers of infrastructure services (IaaS) must ensure that customers achieve functional equivalence after switching to a comparable service. For other cloud services, providers must publish open interfaces and follow harmonised interoperability specifications where they exist.
Important limitation: The Data Act does not make proprietary services magically compatible. Code written for one provider’s proprietary services still needs adaptation. What changes: providers must document interfaces, support migration, and may no longer obstruct it commercially or technically. Contract terms that obstruct switching are no longer permitted, and the maximum notice period for switching is 2 months.
Pillar 3: The End of Switching Charges #
Data egress fees made leaving a cloud provider expensive. At standard internet egress rates of roughly USD 0.05 to 0.09 per GB, moving 100 TB out of a hyperscaler could cost several thousand euros, before any migration project costs. These costs acted as a deliberate retention mechanism.
The timeline is fixed in the regulation:
- 11 January 2024: Data Act in force
- 12 September 2025: Data Act applies; switching charges only at reduced, cost-based rates
- 12 January 2027: Switching charges abolished entirely, including egress charges for a switch
Market reaction: AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure all announced free data transfer out for customers leaving their platforms back in 2024, under regulatory pressure from the Data Act. Caveats apply: Azure requires a complete exit including cancellation of all subscriptions, and AWS excludes services such as CloudFront and Direct Connect.
Note: Regular operational egress (serving data to your users from the cloud) is not abolished. The Data Act addresses charges for switching providers, not day-to-day traffic costs.
Practical Impact on Your Strategy #
Multi-cloud becomes less expensive: switching is supported, time-boxed and, from January 2027, free of switching charges.
Negotiating power increases: if a provider raises prices, switching is a credible alternative. Use upcoming contract renewals to negotiate better terms.
On-premises becomes more competitive: exit costs stop distorting the comparison. For backup and long-term archive data, on-premises secondary storage with a becomes the stronger default.
Implementation Checklist #
Assess (now): data inventory, identify lock-in, track current egress costs, review contracts against the Data Act.
Act (2026): hold providers to their portability and switching obligations, evaluate alternative providers and on-premises repatriation for large data volumes, plan migrations that benefit from the abolition of switching charges in January 2027.
Optimise (2027): execute planned migrations, renegotiate under the new market conditions, re-run your cloud vs. on-premises TCO comparison without exit-cost distortion.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Does the Data Act force me to leave the cloud? No. But it makes hybrid and on-premises strategies more attractive by removing exit barriers. You gain freedom of choice.
Do the hyperscalers already comply? Partially. AWS, Azure and Google waived egress fees for full exits in 2024. Full compliance with switching support, contract terms and the complete charge ban is required by 12 January 2027.
Who enforces the Data Act? National authorities designated by each EU member state. Customers can also rely on the Act’s mandatory contract terms directly against their provider.
Further Resources #
→ Data Egress Fees: The Hidden Costs of Your Cloud Backup (/en/blog/egress-kosten-cloud/) → What Is ? Definition and Three Dimensions (/en/blog/was-ist-datensouveraenitaet/) → EU-US Data Privacy Framework: How Stable Is the New Framework? (/en/blog/eu-us-data-privacy-framework/) → Silent Brick System: On-Premises (/en/produkte/silent-brick-system/)
Air Gap
An air gap is the complete physical interruption of all network connections between a backup system and the rest of the IT infrastructure, so that the system has no addressable network interface in its offline state and is therefore unreachable by ransomware and attackers.
Data Sovereignty
Data sovereignty describes an organization's complete control over its data: where it is stored, who can access it, which legal framework applies to it and whether it is available at any time without dependency on a single provider.
Data Sovereignty
Data sovereignty describes an organization's complete control over its data: where it is stored, who can access it, which legal framework applies to it and whether it is available at any time without dependency on a single provider.