EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROPOSES DATA ACT
On 23 February, the European Commission proposed the Data Act, containing rules on who can use and access data generated in the EU across all economic sectors. The Data Act shall ensure fairness in the digital environment, stimulate a competitive data market, open opportunities for data-driven innovation and make data more accessible for all. It shall lead to new, innovative services and more competitive prices for aftermarket services and repairs of connected objects. This last horizontal building block of the Commission's data strategy shall play a key role in the digital transformation, in line with the 2030 digital objectives.
The Data Act addresses the legal, economic and technical issues that lead to data being under-used. The new rules shall make more data available for reuse and are expected to create €270 billion of additional GDP by 2028. The proposal for the Data Act includes:
- Measures to allow users of connected devices to gain access to data generated by them;
- Measures to rebalance negotiation power for SMEs by preventing abuse of contractual imbalances in data sharing contracts;
- Means for public sector bodies to access and use data held by the private sector that is necessary for exceptional circumstances, particularly in case of a public emergency;
- New rules allowing customers to effectively switch between
different cloud data-processing services providers and putting in place
safeguards against unlawful data transfer.
In addition, the Data Act reviews certain aspects of the Database Directive, which was created in the 1990s to protect investments in the structured presentation of data. Notably, it clarifies that databases containing data from Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices and objects should not be subject to separate legal protection. This shall ensure they can be accessed and used.
Consumers and businesses will be able to access the data of their device and use it for aftermarket and value-added services, like predictive maintenance. Business and industrial players will have more data available and benefit from a competitive data market. Aftermarkets services providers will be able to offer more personalised services, and compete on an equal footing with comparable services offered by manufacturers, while data can be combined to develop entirely new digital services as well.
In support of the European strategy for data, the Commission has also published an overview of the common European data spaces that are being developed in various sectors and domains, including mobility.
Source: European Commission