Recital 25

Start-ups, small enterprises and enterprises that qualify as medium-sized enterprises under point 2 of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC¹³ and enterprises from sectors with less-developed digital capabilities struggle to re-use data and documents. At the same time a few very large entities have emerged with considerable economic power in the digital economy through the accumulation and aggregation of vast volumes of data and the technological infrastructure for monetising them. Those very large enterprises include undertakings that provide core platform services and are designated as gatekeepers under Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council¹⁴ and subject to special obligations to address the imbalances. To address those imbalances and strengthen competition and innovation, public sector bodies should be able to introduce special conditions in licences pertaining to the re-use of data and documents by very large enterprises. Member States may further specify the criteria for what constitutes a very large enterprise for the purpose of Regulation (EU) 2023/2854. Any such conditions should be proportionate, be based on objective criteria, taking into consideration the economic power, the entity’s ability to acquire data or the designation as a gatekeeper under Regulation (EU) 2022/1925, other such criteria, where appropriate. Such special conditions may, inter alia, pertain to the charges and fees or the purposes of re-use.