34. Can a company be both a user and a data holder at the same time?

A company can be both a user and a data holder with respect to different connected products or related services. For example, a manufacturing company can be both a ‘user’ of the robots used in its factory, and a ‘data holder’ for the connected products it manufactures. A company cannot simultaneously be a user and a data holder for the same data, and a user sharing data with a third party should not be considered a data holder for that third party. The specific exception referred to in Recital 34 of the Data Act refers to a possible multi-user scenario where two companies (a data holder and the initial user who is not a data subject) decide to act as joint controllers for additional users (who are the data subjects). This allocation of responsibilities could result in the initial user becoming a data holder for those additional users.