The Data Act: your right to switch to another cloud service
The Data Act is a European law that, among other things, regulates that you can more easily switch from one cloud service to another. In Dutch it's called the Dataverordening (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854). It has been in effect since 12 September 2025. This article explains in plain language what it regulates for switching. This is an explanation, not legal advice.
For which services?
Chapter VI of the Data Act (articles 23 to 31) covers switching between data processing services. This includes the common online services where your data is stored, such as storage, email and collaborating in the cloud. There are exceptions: for services that are largely custom-built for one customer, and for test versions (article 31).
What the Data Act regulates when switching
- Agreements on paper. How switching works must be stated in a written contract, and the provider must help you with your switch (article 25).
- Notice period. To start a switch, the provider may request a notice period of at most two months.
- Transition period. After that follows a transition period of at most 30 days during which the service keeps working and the switch is carried out. If this is not technically feasible, the provider must report this within 14 working days and the period may be at most seven months.
- Retrieving data. After the transition period, you have at least 30 days to retrieve your data. After that, the provider must fully erase it.
- Which data and which format. The contract must describe which data you can take with you. If there is no agreed standard for such a service, the provider must export your data on request in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format (article 30).
- Switching costs. Until 12 January 2027, a provider may only charge reduced switching costs, not higher than its own costs. From 12 January 2027, it may no longer charge switching costs at all (article 29). The regular subscription for the service does not fall under this: you pay that for as long as the agreement runs.
What the Data Act does not do for you
The Data Act makes switching easier, but it does not transfer your data itself. An export that your new service can't read is of little use to you. That's why open standards matter: files remain regular files, mail goes via IMAP, calendars as .ics files and contacts as .vcf files. So export the data yourself, and check whether you can open the files with your new service.
Does it involve personal data of others, such as your customers or members? Then the GDPR also sets rules for what happens to that data when the service ends. If you're unsure about your own situation, ask a legal expert.
Leaving WebOké
At WebOké, you retrieve your data yourself in My WebOké and in your products: downloading a backup of your website and databases, copying your mail via IMAP, exporting your Nextcloud, moving your domain with the transfer code and downloading your customer data. How this works per product, and what happens when you cancel, you can read in Leaving WebOké: how to take your data with you.