64. Can the Commission impose common specifications instead of standards?

The Data Act expresses a clear preference for standards to be developed by the EU standardisation bodies instead of imposing common specifications. Recital 103 confirms that “Common specifications should be adopted only as an exceptional fall-back solution to facilitate compliance with the essential requirements of this Regulation, or when the standardisation process is blocked, or when there are delays in the establishment of appropriate harmonised standards”. Moreover, the Commission can, taking into account the advice of the European Data Innovation Board, supplement the Data Act by adopting delegated acts which further specify those essential requirements laid down Article 33(1) that cannot produce the intended effect unless they are further specified by EU law. For interoperability of data processing services (Article 35), the Data Act establishes the central Union standards repository for the interoperability of data processing services. References to both harmonised standards and common specifications can be published in the repository. Common specifications can be adopted based on open interoperability specifications if these comply with the requirements laid down in Article 35(1) and (2). In line with Article 30(1), providers of data processing services other than those of the Infrastructure as a Service delivery model must ensure compatibility with the common specifications and harmonised standards referenced in the repository, at least 12 months after the publication therein. See Question 54.