---
type: Statutory Article
title: "Article 13 — Unfair contractual terms unilaterally imposed on another enterprise"
description: "Take-it-or-leave-it custody clauses lose their teeth. The stewardship posture — clear terms both sides would sign in daylight — becomes the only stable strategy."
resource: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2854/oj/eng"
tags: ["eu-data-act", "chapter-iv", "fairness"]
instrument: eu-data-act
article: 13
chapter: "IV"
binds: ["data-holder", "dps-provider"]
applies_from: 2025-09-12
cross_refs: [50]
attaches_to: ["cloud", "web-client"]
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

Unilaterally imposed contractual terms concerning data access/use or liability and remedies for breach of data obligations are non-binding if unfair; the article defines unfairness with a general test plus black and grey lists (e.g. excluding liability for gross negligence, inappropriately restricting remedies, or preventing the party that supplied data from using it). From 12 Sep 2027 it also reaches qualifying contracts concluded on or before 12 Sep 2025.[^eli]

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

# Plain reading

Take-it-or-leave-it custody clauses lose their teeth. The stewardship posture — clear terms both sides would sign in daylight — becomes the only stable strategy.

*Paraphrase.*

# Facts

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Chapter | IV — [Unfair Contractual Terms Related to Data Access and Use Between Enterprises](/law/eu-data-act/chapters.md) |
| Binds | [Data Holder](/law/eu-data-act/actors.md), [Data Processing Service Provider](/law/eu-data-act/actors.md) |
| Applies from | 2025-09-12 |
| Cross-references | [Article 50](/law/eu-data-act/articles/article-50.md) |
| Where it attaches in the building | [cloud](/building/components/cloud.md), [web-client](/building/components/web-client.md) |

# Rights that rest on it

- [Take-it-or-leave-it data clauses can't bind you.](/rights/fair-terms.md)

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