34a. After the Data Act enters into application, can data holders continue to use data generated by connected products placed on the market before the application date?

As stated in Article 4(13), data holders will need to have a contract in place with users to use readily available data from 12 September 2025. This obligation applies to connected products placed on the market both before and after 12 September 2025. Data holders who can identify the users of their connected products placed on the market before 12 September 2025 therefore need to either:

• conclude a contract that secures the user’s agreement to their use of the data, if they were doing so without a contractual basis, or

• check if an existing contract (e.g. a sales contract, a contract for the provision of related services or any other contract) needs to be adapted to include the user’s agreement to their use of the data.

There will, however, be data holders that cannot identify the user of their connected product despite having made reasonable efforts (e.g. a notice published on the website of the data holder/manufacturer), and the Data Act does not provide any express provisions for these situations. Such data holders should still be able to continue using the data generated by the product after 12 September 2025, since they designed and sold the product with a legitimate expectation of being able to collect and use this data. Furthermore, without being able to identify the user, this data holder would not be in a situation where they could use the data to derive insights about the user’s economic situation, assets and production methods, as prohibited by Article 4(13). However, should such data holders become aware of any users at some point (for example following a user’s request for access to their data), they must conclude a contract with the users to obtain their agreement to the continued use of the data by the data holder.