DA Article 30. Technical aspects of switching

Data processing services should cover services that allow ubiquitous and on-demand network access to a configurable, scalable and elastic shared pool of distributed computing resources. Those computing resources include resources such as networks, servers or other virtual or physical infrastructure, software, including software development tools, storage, applications and services. The capability of the customer of the data processing service to unilaterally self-provision computing capabilities, such as server time or network storage, without any human interaction by the provider of data processing services could be described as requiring minimal management effort and as entailing minimal interaction between provider and customer. The term ‘ubiquitous’ is used to describe the computing capabilities provided over the network and accessed through mechanisms promoting the use of heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (from web browsers to mobile devices and workstations). The term ‘scalable’ refers to computing resources that are flexibly allocated by the provider of data processing services, irrespective of the geographical location of the resources, in order to handle fluctuations in demand. The term ‘elastic’ is used to describe those computing resources that are provisioned and released according to demand in order to rapidly increase or decrease resources available depending on workload. The term ‘shared pool’ is used to describe those computing resources that are provided to multiple users who share a common access to the service, but where the processing is carried out separately for each user, although the service is provided from the same electronic equipment. The term ‘distributed’ is used to describe those computing resources that are located on different networked computers or devices and which communicate and coordinate among themselves by message passing. The term ‘highly distributed’ is used to describe data processing services that involve data processing closer to where data are being generated or collected, for instance in a connected data processing device. Edge computing, which is a form of such highly distributed data processing, is expected to generate new business models and cloud service delivery models, which should be open and interoperable from the outset.

Undermining the extraction of the exportable data that belongs to the customer from the source provider of data processing services can impede the restoration of the service functionalities in the infrastructure of the destination provider of data processing services. In order to facilitate the customer’s exit strategy, avoid unnecessary and burdensome tasks and to ensure that the customer does not lose any of their data as a consequence of the switching process, the source provider of data processing services should inform the customer in advance of the scope of the data that can be exported once that customer decides to switch to a different service provided by a different provider of data processing services or to move to an on-premises ICT infrastructure. The scope of exportable data should include, at a minimum, input and output data, including metadata, directly or indirectly generated, or cogenerated, by the customer’s use of the data processing service, excluding any assets or data of the provider of data processing services or a third party. The exportable data should exclude any assets or data of the provider of data processing services or of the third party that are protected by intellectual property rights or constituting trade secrets of that provider or of that third party, or data related to the integrity and security of the service, the export of which will expose the providers of data processing services to cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Those exemptions should not impede or delay the switching process.

Digital assets refer to elements in digital form for which the customer has the right of use, including applications and metadata related to the configuration of settings, security, and access and control rights management, and other elements such as manifestations of virtualisation technologies, including virtual machines and containers. Digital assets can be transferred where the customer has the right of use independent of the contractual relationship with the data processing service it intends to switch from. Those other elements are essential for the effective use of the customer’s data and applications in the environment of the destination provider of data processing services.

This Regulation aims to facilitate switching between data processing services, which encompasses conditions and actions that are necessary for a customer to terminate a contract for a data processing service, to conclude one or more new contracts with different providers of data processing services, to port its exportable data and digital assets, and where applicable, benefit from functional equivalence.

Functional equivalence means re-establishing, on the basis of the customer’s exportable data and digital assets, a minimum level of functionality in the environment of a new data processing service of the same service type after switching, where the destination data processing service delivers a materially comparable outcome in response to the same input for shared features supplied to the customer under the contract. Providers of data processing services can only be expected to facilitate functional equivalence for the features that both the source and destination data processing services offer independently. This Regulation does not constitute an obligation to facilitate functional equivalence for providers of data processing services other than those offering services of the IaaS delivery model.

An ambitious and innovation-inspiring regulatory approach to interoperability is needed to overcome vendor lock-in, which undermines competition and the development of new services. Interoperability between data processing services involves multiple interfaces and layers of infrastructure and software and is rarely confined to a binary test of being achievable or not. Instead, the building of such interoperability is subject to a cost-benefit analysis which is necessary to establish whether it is worthwhile to pursue reasonably predictable results. The ISO/IEC 19941:2017 is an important international standard constituting a reference for the achievement of the objectives of this Regulation, as it contains technical considerations clarifying the complexity of such a process.

Where providers of data processing services are in turn customers of data processing services provided by a third-party provider, they will benefit from more effective switching themselves while simultaneously remaining bound by this Regulation’s obligations regarding their own service offerings.

Providers of data processing services should be required to offer all the assistance and support within their capacity, proportionate to their respective obligations, that is required to make the switching process to a service of a different provider of data processing services successful, effective and secure. This Regulation does not require providers of data processing services to develop new categories of data processing services, including within, or on the basis of, the ICT infrastructure of different providers of data processing services in order to guarantee functional equivalence in an environment other than their own systems. A source provider of data processing services does not have access to or insights into the environment of the destination provider of data processing services. Functional equivalence should not be understood to oblige the source provider of data processing services to rebuild the service in question within the infrastructure of the destination provider of data processing services. Instead, the source provider of data processing services should take all reasonable measures within its power to facilitate the process of achieving functional equivalence through the provision of capabilities, adequate information, documentation, technical support and, where appropriate, the necessary tools.