The CESSDA Data Access Policy has been developed to provide a set of principles for CESSDA Service Providers (SPs) covering common standards for the provision of data and metadata access. The policy also aims to demonstrate CESSDA’s commitment to open science while protecting both privacy and intellectual property rights. The policy was first published in 2016 and was updated in 2022 to cover new developments in legislation and standards covering data access; to reflect current needs and requirements for data access in the social science community; and as membership of CESSDA grows, to ensure its relevance across a wider range of SP organisations.