The European Commission, the European Parliament and EU Member States have reached an agreement on the European Data Governance Act to boost data sharing.
The proposal for a Data Governance Act was presented in November 2020. Now, one year later, the European Commission (EC), the European Parliament (EP) and the EU Member States have agreed upon a political agreement to further develop the Act.
The European Data Governance Act aims to boost data sharing across sectors and the EU Member States. It is a key pillar of the European strategy for data. The Act will increase trust in data sharing, strengthen mechanisms to increase data availability and overcome technical obstacles to the reuse of data. Moreover, it will support the set-up and development of common European data spaces in strategic domains and sectors such as health, environment, energy, agriculture, mobility, finance and public administration. The initiative aims to make more data available and facilitate data sharing to leverage the potential of data for the benefit of European citizens and businesses.
Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, mentioned that the regulation is a crucial step to create a solid and fair data-driven economy. It is highly important to set up the right conditions for a trustful way of data sharing, according to European values and fundamental rights. The regulation will provide a powerful engine for innovation and new jobs across Europe. It will allow the EU to ensure that it is at the forefront of the second wave of innovation-based data. As a result, the European society will benefit from more evidence-based policies and better solutions to societal challenges, like climate change or the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, highlighted two great benefits of the Data Governance Act. On the one hand, it facilitates the flow of growing industrial data across sectors and the Member States to help Europe to become the world’s number one data continent. On the other hand, it enables an open and sovereign European Single Market for data.
As a next step, the political agreement has to be formally approved by the EP and the Council. Furthermore, the EC will soon come up with a second legislative initiative, the Data Act, to take full advantage of the value of data for the whole European economy and society. The Data Act aims to foster data sharing among businesses and between businesses and governments. An open consultation took place from 3 June to 3 September 2021 The results are expected to be published soon.