---
type: Statutory Article
title: "Article 23 — Removing obstacles to effective switching"
description: "The exit exists by law. Everything in this chapter is the removal of furniture piled against that door."
resource: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2854/oj/eng"
tags: ["eu-data-act", "chapter-vi", "switching"]
instrument: eu-data-act
article: 23
chapter: "VI"
binds: ["dps-provider"]
applies_from: 2025-09-12
cross_refs: [25, 29, 30]
attaches_to: ["cloud"]
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

Providers of data processing services must remove pre-commercial, commercial, technical, contractual and organisational obstacles preventing customers from switching to another provider (or on-prem), porting exportable data, or using services in parallel.[^eli]

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

# Plain reading

The exit exists by law. Everything in this chapter is the removal of furniture piled against that door.

*Paraphrase.*

# Facts

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Chapter | VI — [Switching Between Data Processing Services](/law/eu-data-act/chapters.md) |
| Binds | [Data Processing Service Provider](/law/eu-data-act/actors.md) |
| Applies from | 2025-09-12 |
| Cross-references | [Article 25](/law/eu-data-act/articles/article-25.md), [Article 29](/law/eu-data-act/articles/article-29.md), [Article 30](/law/eu-data-act/articles/article-30.md) |
| Where it attaches in the building | [cloud](/building/components/cloud.md) |

# Rights that rest on it

- [Leaving is your right — and the exit fee is dying.](/rights/leave.md)

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