EU Data Act provisions covering cloud services on the continent have officially come into force.

The Act, proposed back in 2022, introduces rules on who can use and access data generated in the EU, with the legislation aimed at creating a fairer data economy. While the legislation came into force in January 2024, provisions slowly became effective.

Under the rules for cloud service providers, they are mandated to make it easier for customers to switch between providers. Under the legislation, customers have the right to terminate cloud and related services, providing just two months' notice.

Cloud computing hyperscalers have been making strides to make data transfer easier in a bid to comply. Earlier this week, Google unveiled Data Transfer Essentials, which scraps fees for EU and U.K. users to process workloads across two or more cloud providers.

“Although the Act allows cloud providers to pass through costs to customers, Data Transfer Essentials is available today at no cost to customers,” Jeanette Manfra, Google Cloud's senior director of global risk and compliance, wrote in a blog post.

Other providers have followed suit, with Microsoft offering "at-cost" transfers for customers and cloud service providers in the EU. Amazon Web Services (AWS) users can request reduced data transfer rates thanks to the legislation, though little information on the option has been made available at the time of writing.

Difficulty switching cloud providers has been a leading cause of tension between some of the bigger names in the business.

A high-profile probe by the U.K.’s competition authority, for example, suggested Microsoft’s market power in the cloud space stemmed from customers being “unable or unwilling to switch away from them.”

In addition to transfer revisions, big-name providers have also launched Euro-centric offerings to further appease continental lawmakers, such as Microsoft with its Sovereign Public Cloud and EU Data Boundary offerings, and AWS’s European Sovereign Cloud.

Data Act latest amid digital sovereignty groundswell

Beyond cloud provisions, the EU Data Act also forces connected device makers to introduce measures to ensure their offerings are secure, with users able to easily access and port their data. The European Commission is working to create a model that would help companies support fair data exchange.

Other provisions allow government agencies access to private user data in the event of public emergencies such as cyber attacks or natural disasters, while rules around cybersecurity require providers to implement measures to prevent non-European governmental authorities from accessing non-personal data.

Implementation of the Data Act comes as EU lawmakers are attempting to rein in the power of big tech in a bid to reduce reliance on U.S. hyperscalers – especially after a Microsoft legal director recently revealed the firm couldn’t stop European user data from being accessed by the U.S. government.

In addition to legislative efforts, several private sector firms are working on hyper-regionalized AI infrastructure projects to further back demand for digital sovereignty.

Among such projects are Sferical AI, the Ericsson and AstraZeneca-led project building out sovereign AI infrastructure for Sweden, with similar efforts underway in Denmark through Gefion, and Isambard-AI in the U.K.