The proposal for a Data Act - a BusinessEurope position paper

Key messages

BusinessEurope sees the potential of the Data Act proposal to enable new business opportunities. The new rules must be developed without creating excessive burdens for companies, especially SMEs; and give due consideration to industry’s exposure to global developments.
The proposal’s cornerstone definition of “data” must be aligned with Recital 17 and be compatible with the existing data-related legislation.
Business-to-business data-sharing culture relies on reciprocity, legal certainty for return of investments, the appropriate protection of trade secrets, sensitive commercial information, and databases. The Data Act must give a further boost to this data-sharing culture by preserving the contractual freedom businesses enjoy, by providing for adequate compensation for making data available and by ensuring clear enforceable obligations for third parties receiving data.
Business-to-government data sharing must be carefully balanced with democratic rights and democratic accountability. The proposal must narrow down the “exceptional need” situations, which would entitle many public sector bodies across the Union to claim data access, and ensure effective scrutiny.
The Data Act must promote the freedom of providers of data processing services and that of users to engage in contracts appropriate to the specific needs, as well as the wider adoption of codes of conduct for facilitating switching of cloud services and porting of data.