---
type: Statutory Article
title: "Article 36 — Essential requirements regarding smart contracts for executing data sharing agreements"
description: "If code executes the agreement, the code carries duties: a kill switch, an audit trail, access control."
resource: "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2854/oj/eng"
tags: ["eu-data-act", "chapter-viii", "interop", "safeguards"]
instrument: eu-data-act
article: 36
chapter: "VIII"
binds: ["data-holder", "third-party"]
applies_from: 2025-09-12
cross_refs: [33]
attaches_to: ["third-party"]
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

Smart contracts executing data sharing must meet essential requirements: robustness, safe termination/interruption, data archiving/auditability, access control, and consistency — with conformity self-assessment.[^eli]

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

# Plain reading

If code executes the agreement, the code carries duties: a kill switch, an audit trail, access control.

*Paraphrase.*

# Facts

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Chapter | VIII — [Interoperability](/law/eu-data-act/chapters.md) |
| Binds | [Data Holder](/law/eu-data-act/actors.md), [Third Party / Data Recipient](/law/eu-data-act/actors.md) |
| Applies from | 2025-09-12 |
| Cross-references | [Article 33](/law/eu-data-act/articles/article-33.md) |
| Where it attaches in the building | [third-party](/building/components/third-party.md) |

# Rights that rest on it

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

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