Bun­desnet­za­gen­tur as­sumes tasks un­der the Ger­man Da­ta Gov­er­nance Act

Year of issue 2026
Date of issue 2026.05.19

The national Data Governance Act (DGG) today enters into force with the Bundesnetzagentur assuming the role of the national competent authority for the enforcement of the requirements for data intermediation services and data altruism organisations in Germany, on the basis of the national transposition of the European Data Governance Act (DGA).

“Neutral data intermediaries form an essential part of a trusted infrastructure that increases data availability for research, product enhancements and innovations,” said Klaus Müller, President of the Bundesnetzagentur, “Data altruism opens up new opportunities for civil society: anyone who donates data plays an active role in addressing societal challenges, for instance in medical research, in climate change mitigation or in education.”

New responsibilities

The Bundesnetzagentur is responsible for the notification of data intermediation services, for issuing the label for data intermediation services recognised in the EU upon request and for the registration of data altruism organisations, which likewise have their own label. In addition, the Bundesnetzagentur maintains the public register of recognised data altruism organisations in Germany. The higher-level European register of data intermediation services falls under the responsibility of the European Commission. Moreover, the Bundesnetzagentur monitors compliance with the statutory requirements of the DGA by data intermediation services and data altruism organisations in Germany.

The European Data Governance Act

The DGA entered into force on 23 June 2022 and has been in effect since 24 September 2023. It is intended to promote a digital single market and advance a people-focused, trusted and secure data society and data economy. The DGA establishes mechanisms for trustworthy data exchange to make more and new data available, as well as to facilitate data exchange across sectors and between EU countries. This will help realise the full potential of data that has so far remained unused and should promote greater trust and security in data exchange. To this end, neutral data intermediaries are being created:

• Providers of data intermediation services, which act as neutral, trustworthy intermediaries between data holders and data users. They may charge a fee for their intermediary services but are not allowed to use the data provided themselves. For example: an industrial enterprise may make data from its manufacturing robot available through a data intermediation service. A repair service can purchase the data and use the data for its own purposes, for instance to more accurately determine maintenance intervals.
• Data altruism organisations, which might use the data voluntarily made available for the public good, such as patient data used for health protection, or might forward the data to data users that use the data for purposes that serve the public interest, such as research organisations that research into specific illnesses. Data altruism organisations do not pursue any commercial purposes. Data holders can only request compensation for the costs they have incurred in making the data available.

Information and services provided by the Bundesnetzagentur

The information provided by the Bundesnetzagentur summarises the main provisions of the European DGA and the German DGG. Information is given on those data and actors that fall under the legislation and on who is affected. Providers of intermediary services and organisations that want to be recognised as data altruism organisations can also find registration and application forms on the Bundesnetzagentur's website (in German) at www.bundesnetzagentur.de/dga. The information will be updated on a regular basis.