§ Data Act · DMA COMPARISON

Data Act vs DMA: Where They Overlap and Conflict

4 overlaps, 1 conflicts and 2 gaps mapped between Data Act and DMA in the Fontvera regulatory corpus.

Summary

Data Act and DMA both apply across European business activity, but they were drafted at different times with different policy goals. This page summarises every article-level crossref between the two in the Fontvera corpus.

4 overlaps mean the same conduct triggers obligations in both regimes — design controls once, document twice. 1 conflicts mean the two regulations push in opposite directions on a specific question. 2 gaps mean one regulation leaves something on a topic the other addresses.

Who this applies to
Compliance teams who need to map a single control framework onto both Data Act and DMA.
Compliance deadline
§ Detail

In depth

Summary statistics

Overlaps: 4 · Conflicts: 1 · Gaps: 2

7 article-level crossrefs catalogued between Data Act and DMA from the Fontvera EU regulatory corpus. Article numbers are verbatim from the underlying obligation_crossrefs table; descriptions are extracted, not paraphrased.

All crossrefs between these regulations

Article (A)Article (B)TypeSeverityDescription
DMA Art 14Data Act Art 14overlaplow[entity affected: Commission] Both regulations empower the Commission to request information or data from entities, requiring cooperation and provision of necessary details.
DMA Art 21Data Act Art 14overlaplow[entity affected: Gatekeepers/Data Holders] Both regulations impose obligations on entities to provide information and data to the Commission or public authorities upon request.
DMA Art 11Data Act Art 10overlaplow[entity affected: Commission] Both regulations require the Commission to publish lists or summaries of relevant entities or decisions on its website to ensure transparency.
DMA Art 13Data Act Art 19overlaplow[entity affected: Gatekeepers/Data Holders] Both regulations require entities to take technical and organizational measures to protect business secrets and confidential data when sharing information.
DMA Art 1Data Act Art 14conflicthigh[entity affected: Member States] DMA Art 1 prohibits Member States from imposing further obligations on gatekeepers, while Data Act Art 14 imposes specific data sharing obligations on data holders (wh
DMA Art ?Data Act Art ?gapmedium[entity affected: Small and Medium Enterprises] Neither regulation clearly defines the compliance obligations for SMEs that are not gatekeepers but hold significant data, leaving a regulatory gap for
DMA Art ?Data Act Art ?gapmedium[entity affected: Cross-border Data Recipients] There is no clear mechanism defined in either regulation for resolving jurisdictional conflicts when data recipients in different Member States have con

Conflicts explained

The 1 article-level conflicts between Data Act and DMA mean a control that satisfies one can pull the wrong way on the other:

Which regulation takes precedence

EU law does not lay down a universal precedence rule between Data Act and DMA. In practice three resolution approaches apply: lex specialis (the more specific provision wins when both purport to govern the same conduct); regulator guidance (EDPB, EBA, ESMA and the AI Office have all issued joint readings on overlapping articles — check the most recent applicable opinion); and document the choice (when the regulations leave the call to the controller, the audit defence is your written reasoning, not the regulator's silence). Where the corpus surfaces a conflict rather than an overlap, treat that as an escalation path to legal — not a control-design question.

What this means for your compliance team

Treat the 4 overlaps as design opportunities — one control, two regulatory anchors. Treat the 1 conflicts as escalation paths to legal: the regulations themselves don't resolve them, you do, and you document the reasoning. The 2 gaps point at scenarios where one regulation is silent while the other speaks — assume the regulator who has the explicit rule will win.

Related Fontvera pages

Check your full compliance exposure with the 5-minute Fontvera diagnostic →

§ What Fontvera found

Documents in our corpus

Enforcement data is expanding. AI Act enforcement begins 2 August 2026 — this section will populate automatically as authorities and courts publish decisions citing the regulations covered on this page.
§ Cross-references

Related Fontvera intelligence

Need a cross-border briefing on this?
Search Fontvera ↵ Run the AI Act diagnostic
AI Act enforcement
63 days
until 2026-08-02, when most AI Act provisions begin to apply.