---
type: Statutory Article
title: "Article 2 — Definitions"
description: "The load-bearing words. Most arguments about this Act are arguments about these definitions — start here."
resource: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2854/oj/eng"
tags: ["eu-data-act", "chapter-i", "scope"]
instrument: eu-data-act
article: 2
chapter: "I"
binds: []
applies_from: 2025-09-12
cross_refs: []
attaches_to: []
legal_review: none
generated: { by: claude-code/opus-5.5, at: "2026-10-09T00:00:00Z" }
status: draft
sources:
  - id: eli
    resource: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2854/oj/eng"
    title: "Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, Official Journal"
  - id: prototype
    resource: "https://github.com/DavidJCrawford/stewardship-explorer/blob/main/src/data/act.json"
    title: "stewardship-explorer act.json (author's summaries, July 2026)"
---

# Precise reading

Defines the Act's vocabulary: data, connected product, related service, product data, related service data, readily available data, user, data holder, data recipient, data processing service, switching, exportable data, smart contract, and more.[^eli]

*A faithful summary of the operative demand, not the statutory text.*

# Plain reading

The load-bearing words. Most arguments about this Act are arguments about these definitions — start here.

*Paraphrase.*

# Facts

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Chapter | I — [General Provisions](/law/eu-data-act/chapters.md) |
| Binds | No party directly; structural. |
| Applies from | 2025-09-12 |
| Cross-references | None. |
| Where it attaches in the building | Nowhere in the building directly. |

# Rights that rest on it

- None of the seven rights rests on this article directly.

[^eli]: Regulation (EU) 2023/2854, Official Journal