Since September 2025, a law addressing vendor lock-in has applied across the entire EU, and from 12 January 2027 your software vendor can no longer charge you a single cent for switching to another one. That's just under five months away. What does that mean in practice for an SME, and what can you already do with it?
The Data Act is a European regulation that has applied since 12 September 2025. Part of it deals with data from smart devices, and as an office-based organization you can usually ignore that part. The part that does matter covers switching between what the law calls "data processing services".
Behind that term is something very practical. It covers software you subscribe to rather than own: your CRM in the cloud, your project software, your accounting package, your hosting, your document storage. If you rent it, and your business data lives in it, it probably falls under this. The core of the rule: the vendor may not put up obstacles, contractual, technical or commercial, that make it hard for you to leave or to use multiple vendors side by side.
The regulation applies across the EU. A vendor may not put up contractual, technical or commercial obstacles to leaving.
Your existing contract doesn't change automatically. Until 12 January a vendor may still charge the costs actually incurred, without a profit margin.
The vendor may charge nothing at all for the switch, including no fees for exporting your data.
Followed by a transition period of at most 30 days, and at least 30 days of access to your data after the switch.
has to be stated in the contract itselfStructured, commonly used and machine-readable, and the vendor cooperates with the switch in good faith.
customer data, invoices and documents come with youUntil that date only the costs actually incurred, after it nothing at all, including no fees for exporting your data.
your argument is legislation, not goodwillThe switching provisions apply to existing agreements, regardless of the minimum term you signed up for earlier.
no need to wait until your current term expiresThe first thing the law sets out is timelines. Your notice period to start a switch or to have your data erased may be at most two months. After that comes a transition period of at most 30 days during which the switch takes place. If that's not technically feasible, it may be extended, but the vendor has to justify it. After the switch, you must still be able to access your data for at least 30 days before it's deleted.
What this means in practice: contracts with a six-month notice period, or with an automatic renewal clause you can no longer get out of, are due for revision. Under the law, the vendor also has to state these rights in the contract itself.
An export that technically exists but is practically useless is the classic escape route for vendors. The law closes that off: your exportable data and digital assets have to be made available in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and the vendor has to cooperate with the switch in good faith.
Be honest about what it doesn't solve. What counts as "exportable" is debatable, and you'll probably end up having that debate. Your customer data, invoices and documents come with you. Your configured processes, workflows, report definitions and custom fields are a gray area. No law requires your old vendor to make your new system work exactly like the old one.
This is the part with a hard deadline. Until 12 January 2027, a vendor may still charge a reduced rate for switching, but only the costs actually incurred, without a profit margin. From that date on, they may charge nothing at all, including no fees for exporting your data.
One distinction to note: switching costs are not the same as a fee for ending a contract early. The latter is still allowed to exist, as long as it's proportionate and doesn't block the switch. And the law doesn't work like a switch flipping on 12 January: your existing contract doesn't change automatically. You have to act on it yourself. That makes the second half of 2026 the moment to have this conversation, because your argument is no longer about goodwill, it's about legislation.
The most underestimated rule. The switching provisions also apply to existing agreements, regardless of the minimum term you signed up for earlier. So you don't have to wait until your current term expires to use your rights.
That suddenly makes one question very useful: ask your vendor which categories of data and digital assets they can export, in what format and within what timeframe. The speed of the answer tells you a lot on its own. A vendor who puts this neatly on paper within a day is a good vendor. One who needs three weeks and a consultant has already given you their answer.
Here's the nuance that's usually missing from the legal summaries. Switching costs were the most visible form of lock-in, but not the strongest one. The strongest form lives in your own operations: processes built around the logic of one package, integrations built to measure, history full of references that mean nothing outside that system, and the fact that no one in your organization knows exactly how it all fits together.
A free export doesn't solve that. You're free to walk out with a file at no cost, but you still don't have anywhere to put it. The Data Act lowers the threshold for leaving, it doesn't arrange a destination. That remains your job.
Per system: when does it renew automatically, and what's the last day to speak up. Half an hour of work, and the basis for every conversation after that.
Which data and digital assets, what format, what timeframe, what costs now and after 12 January 2027. In writing.
Don't ask if it's possible, just do it. Pull the data out and see if you can do anything with it without the vendor. The only item that gives you an honest answer.
A central place where your business data lives in an open format makes every future switch a technical task instead of a project. Without that place, you're just relocating your dependency.
What that move looks like step by step is covered in a data migration plan in seven steps.
2027 will be the year switching software stops being an investment and becomes a choice. That's a real gain, but only for businesses that know where their data should go. For everyone else, the reason to stay stays the same: not the exit invoice, but the feeling that it's too much work.
The way to defuse that feeling is to flip it around. Instead of putting your data into a package and hoping you can get it out again someday, take an open, in-house data layer as your foundation and connect your software to it. Existing systems can stay exactly where they are, the data and the control are yours. How that works is explained on the AI Native Data Layer page. If your current system is already holding you back, five signs your business has outgrown its CRM is a better place to start.
And this question extends beyond your business software. Your website and hosting are also a service you should be able to leave without friction. If you can't get to your own site yourself today, that's the same dependency wearing a different jacket: that's what the page on moving WordPress to in-house is about.
What the law costs you in compliance work yourself, as a buyer, as a maker of connected products or as a provider, is covered in what does the Data Act cost an SME.
Finally: this article explains what the rule means in practice, it is not legal advice. For the exact implications for your contracts, a lawyer is the right person to ask.
From 12 January 2027. Until that date a vendor may still charge a reduced rate, but only the costs actually incurred, without a margin. From 12 January 2027 they may charge nothing at all, including nothing for exporting your data. An early termination fee is a different matter and may continue to exist, as long as it is proportionate and does not block the switch.
What the law calls data processing services: software you rent rather than own. Your cloud CRM, your project software, your accounting package, your hosting and your document storage. The rule of thumb: if you rent it and your business data sits inside it, it probably falls under the rules. The part of the law about data from connected devices can usually be ignored by an office organisation.
Yes. The switching provisions apply to existing agreements too, regardless of the minimum term you signed up for earlier. But nothing happens automatically on 12 January 2027: your existing contract does not change by itself, you have to act on it. That makes the period in between the moment to have the conversation.
At most two months to initiate a switch or have your data erased. That is followed by a transition period of in principle no more than thirty days in which the switch takes place, and after the switch you must still be able to reach your data for at least thirty days before it is deleted. If that transition period is not technically feasible it may be longer, but the vendor has to justify it.
Your exportable data and digital assets, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and the vendor has to cooperate in good faith with the switch. Your customer records, invoices and documents come along. Your configured processes, workflows, reporting definitions and custom fields are a grey area: no law obliges your old vendor to make your new system behave like the old one.
In the whitepaper on the AI Native Data Layer, you'll read how an open, in-house data layer replaces the monolithic CRM, what that means for your existing systems, and how to start small with it.
Download the whitepaper