Sovereignty · Updated 10 November 2026 · 7 min read

What the EU Data Act says about switching cloud providers in 2026

Notice periods, transition time, exit fees and data export: the cloud switching rules of the EU Data Act and what to check in your own contract.

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The EU Data Act gives cloud customers a legal right to leave. Since 12 September 2025, a provider of cloud or edge services can't ask for more than two months' notice before a switch, must complete it within a transition period of up to 30 days, and take your data out in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Switching charges, egress included, may only cover the provider's own costs today, and from 12 January 2027 they aren't allowed at all.

This article explains the rules. It isn't legal advice.

The switching rules at a glance

Rule	What the Data Act sets	Since
Notice period	2 months at most, starting when you tell the provider you want to switch	12 September 2025
Transition period	30 calendar days at most, after the notice period ends	12 September 2025
Longer transition	You may choose a longer period. The provider may extend it only if it proves during the notice period that 30 days is technically unfeasible, and then to 7 months at most	12 September 2025
Switching and egress charges	Limited to the provider's own costs	11 January 2024
Switching and egress charges	Not allowed	12 January 2027
Data export	Open interfaces and a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format	12 September 2025

The regulation is Regulation (EU) 2023/2854. It entered into force on 11 January 2024 and has applied since 12 September 2025.

Who the rules cover

Chapter VI of the Data Act applies to providers of data processing services. The European Commission's FAQ says that definition mirrors common definitions of cloud computing and covers infrastructure, platform and software services: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. A hosting platform for web apps is a PaaS, so the rules generally reach it as well as large infrastructure clouds.

A few details matter in practice:

Free tiers count. The FAQ says customers who used a free-tier offering, sometimes called cloud credits, can also benefit from switching.
Moving back in-house counts. The notice period starts when you tell the provider you want to move to another provider or to your own on-premises infrastructure.
Custom-built and test services get a lighter regime. Article 31 relaxes some duties for services built mostly for one customer and not offered on a broad commercial scale, and takes services offered for testing over a limited period out of the chapter.

What the provider must give you

The obligations differ by type of service.

Infrastructure providers must help you reach functional equivalence: when you move to a service of the same type, the same input should give materially comparable results for the features both services share.
Platform and software providers must offer open interfaces, follow the open interoperability specifications and harmonised standards listed in an EU repository, and export your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. The FAQ says the functional equivalence duty applies only to infrastructure providers.
Exportable data means your input and output data plus the metadata your use of the service creates. It excludes the provider's own intellectual property and trade secrets.
Digital assets, such as configuration, access rights, applications, virtual machines and containers, can move with you when you have the right to use them independently of the old contract.

What the old provider doesn't have to do is rebuild your setup on the new platform. The FAQ points to Article 24, which limits its duties, and notes that it has no access to the destination provider's environment.

What happens to exit fees

Egress fees are what a provider charges for data leaving its network, explained in more detail in Egress fees explained. The Data Act treats them in two steps. From 11 January 2024, any charge for switching, egress included, must be limited to what the switch actually costs the provider. From 12 January 2027, the provider can't charge for switching at all.

One exception stays after 2027. If you don't leave but run services in parallel with another provider, a multi-cloud setup, the provider may still bill the costs of egress. The Commission's reasoning is that parallel use means a constant flow of data, not a one-off move.

Some large providers already waive egress for customers who leave. AWS, for example, gives credits for data transfer out once AWS Support approves your request, and points EU customers switching under the Data Act to the process in its EU Data Act Addendum.

What to check before you sign or switch

The notice and transition periods in the contract. A provider can't impose more than two months of notice, and it can stretch the 30-day transition only when it's technically unfeasible.
How you get your data out. Ask which formats and interfaces the export uses, and whether it includes metadata and configuration, not only files.
What a switch costs before 2027. Any charge should match the provider's real cost. Ask for the breakdown.
Minimum terms and commitments. The Data Act deals with switching charges, so read separately what the contract says about prepaid periods and early termination.
Where your code and build settings live. A project that builds from your own Git repository with standard config files moves faster than one that lives only inside a provider's console.

A practical switching plan

Write down what you run: apps, databases, files, cron jobs, domains, environment variables and secrets.
Give notice in writing and ask the provider to confirm the dates of the notice and transition periods.
Export data and configuration early, and test the import on the new platform with a copy.
Recreate environment variables and secrets by hand. They rarely travel in an export.
Move the domain last, once the new deployment serves real traffic correctly.
Delete the old resources only after the switch is confirmed complete.

Where Eurobase fits

Eurobase is a European hosting platform for web apps, run by a business registered in Warsaw, Poland, on European infrastructure run by Scaleway, a French provider. It deploys from your own repository on GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, Forgejo or Gitea, so your source and build settings stay in your Git host rather than in a dashboard. Apps on V8 isolates use a standard Wrangler config, and their D1-compatible SQLite databases are defined there too.

There are no usage charges today, so there's no per-gigabyte bill when traffic leaves. Work over a plan limit is refused, apps on V8 isolates and Functions stop until the monthly reset, and containers and static sites keep serving. Eurobase doesn't offer managed Postgres, MySQL or Redis, so if your app depends on one of those, plan for a separate database provider. ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certification are in progress and not yet held.

If you're moving in, the migration guides cover Vercel, Netlify, Heroku, Render, Railway, Fly.io and others. For the wider picture of European options, see best European PaaS providers and EU region vs EU company.

Frequently asked questions

Does the EU Data Act ban egress fees?

Not entirely. It bans charges for switching, egress included, from 12 January 2027, and until then limits them to the provider's own costs. A provider may still charge for egress when you use its service in parallel with another one rather than leaving.

How long can a cloud provider take to let me switch?

At most two months of notice followed by a transition period of up to 30 calendar days. The provider can stretch the transition to seven months only if it shows, during the notice period, that 30 days is technically unfeasible. You can also choose a longer transition period yourself.

Does the Data Act apply to PaaS and SaaS, or only to infrastructure clouds?

It covers all three. Platform and software providers must offer open interfaces and export your data in a machine-readable format, while the duty to help you reach functional equivalence applies only to infrastructure providers.

Does the Data Act force my old provider to set up my app on the new one?

No. The source provider must make the export and the switch possible from its own side, with information, documentation and tools. It doesn't have to rebuild your service on the new provider's platform.