An Exception to the Rule

Dieter Adam / 11 December 2023

The actions of and acts passed by the EU Parliament are often perceived to be tedious, if not worse, by those affected by them – let alone the rest of the world.

For manufacturers, the European Data Act, adopted by the EU Parliament on November 27, provides a welcome exception (https://www.eu-data-act.com ). Once approved by the EU Council, the Act provides comprehensive rights to access and use data generated by (among others) manufacturing machinery and equipment. It essentially stipulates the owners and lessees of machinery and equipment (Connected Product) have full rights to access and use Product Data (“data generated by the use of a connected product”) and Related Service Data (“data representing the digitisation of user actions or of events related to the connected product, recorded intentionally by the user or generated as a by-product of the user’s action during the provision of a related service by the provider“). “The Data Act gives individuals and businesses more control over their data through a reinforced data portability right, copying or transferring data easily from across different services, where the data are generated through smart objects, machines and devices.” Moreover, it obligates vendors of Connected Products to make it easy to access the data and provide technical information on how that access can be achieved.

The fact that the Act provides the same rights to consumers and for consumer products will create some interesting challenges in their own right, e.g. for car manufacturers – but that’s another story.

Why is that important? Those of you who have started on your own journey adopting Networked-Manufacturing (Industry 4.0) technologies often run into hurdles early on. Much of the manufact­uring machinery and equipment sold today comes equipped to provide live data on the activities / performance of the unit, often with an associated service offer where the vendor will analyse the data and provide you with relevant information. What is less clear legally, and at times difficult technically, is the ability to access that data for your own use or to pass it on to another service provider for analysis. Under the new law, at least in the EU, those difficulties are set to become a thing of the past.

The Act will, of course, only apply to machinery and equipment sold in the EU and provides rights to users located in the EU. It will be relevant to New Zealand exporters to the EU of what the Act calls Connected Products (IoT), but it may also create a precedence suppliers of Connected Products will voluntarily adopt in other countries, or it may trigger similar provisions to be adopted in other jurisdictions.