Government proposes legislation for national implementation of EU Data Act

Government proposes legislation for national implementation of EU Data Act

On 25 September 2025, the Government submitted to Parliament a legislative proposal on supplementing the EU Data Act. The Data Act has a key role in promoting the data economy. The aim is to promote access to and use of data widely across sectoral boundaries.

The Data Act sets requirements for the manufacturers of connected products, in particular. In future, these must provide access to data collected by the product and related service without a separate charge. The range of products covered by the Data Act is broad as it also includes different kinds of sensors and smartwatches.

The Data Act creates new rights to the users of products that collect data. It makes it easier for businesses and consumers to manage and make use of their own data and provide data to third parties, such as businesses offering maintenance or additional services. Smaller enterprises are protected against unfair contract terms related to the use and sharing of data. With respect to businesses, in particular, the Data Act means significant new opportunities for making use of data.

The Data Act gives public bodies the right to request data from the private sector in exceptional circumstances such as general emergencies. Besides this, the Data Act obliges the data processing services, including cloud services, to create frameworks that facilitate switching between the services.

For the main part the Data Act became applicable on 12 September 2025

Traficom mainly responsible for supervising compliance with Data Act

The EU Data Act is directly applicable legislation, but it requires supplementary legislation at the national level. The government proposal includes a new act to be adopted concerning the supervision of data management and sharing, and amendments to certain other acts. The new act would lay down provisions on the competent authorities and their duties and on the powers of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom in the supervision and the related sanctions. The earlier national provisions implementing the EU Data Governance Act would also be incorporated into the new act.

New official duties would be assigned to Traficom, the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority and the Consumer Ombudsman. The main responsibility for the supervision would rest with Traficom. Traficom would also serve as the data coordinator, i.e. the single point of contact for issues related to the application of the regulation in Finland.

What's next?

Parliament will begin to process the proposal with a referral debate in a plenary session. The proposal then proceeds to a committee reading. Following the committee report, the debate will continue in a plenary session.

The proposed acts are scheduled to enter into force on 1 January 2026.

Inquiries:

Merita Erkkilä, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 342 136, merita.erkkila(at)gov.fi

Jenni Rantio, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 342 205, jenni.rantio(at)gov.fi

Hanna Laurila, Senior Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 295 342 025, hanna.laurila(at)gov.fi