Conclusion of trilogue negotiations between Council, EU Parliament and EU Commission
Dehmel: “First EU-wide uniform rules for data sharing”.
Berlin, 1st December 2021 - Bitkom welcomes the swift conclusion of the trilogue negotiations on the Data Governance Act as an important step in promoting data sharing in the EU. "The Data Governance Act creates new uniform rules across Europe for data sharing between companies, individuals, and the public sector", says Susanne Dehmel, member of Bitkom’s Managing Board. "The Data Governance Act underlines the significance of data held by the public and the use of it. This can provide much needed momentum for the European data economy."
In particular, Bitkom welcomes the recognition of data intermediation services as important players for the European digital economy in the Data Governance Act, for which the EU Commission only published its proposal slightly more than a year ago. "Data intermediation services can not only increase efficiency in sharing and trading data, but they also create the necessary trust", says Dehmel. "The Data Governance Act strikes a balance between the use and protection of data, which can be an important step towards a data-sovereign Europe." Nonetheless, it is important to ensure that the Data Governance Act's partially strict rules for data intermediation services do not negatively impact the currently emerging data spaces in Europe. Dehmel is pleased that the Data Governance Act explicitly supports citizens in sharing their data for the common good. "The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated how valuable and necessary data is for research and science", says Dehmel.
In light of the upcoming EU Data Act proposal, which is expected to focus in particular on the sharing of data held by the private sector, Bitkom advocates for enabling and encouraging innovative business models. “It will be important that the Data Act that is based on the Data Governance Act will release the potentials of the data economy while removing existing hurdles", Dehmel says. “The new German government must take the development at EU level into account in its plans for a national data law, which was announced in the coalition agreement", says Dehmel. "The last thing we need for the data economy in this country is another German Sonderweg."
