Shaping Europe’s Digital Future: the Data Act
Find out more about the new Data Act
[https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1113]
that helps shape Europe’s digital future! On 23 February 2022, the
European Commission proposed new rules on who can use and access data
generated in the European Union. This Data Act—as part of the
European Strategy for Data
[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1593073685620&uri=CELEX:52020DC0066]—will
play a key role in the digital transformation of Europe. It will help
to ensure fairness in the digital environment, stimulate a competitive
data market, open opportunities for data-driven innovation and make
data more accessible for everyone.

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President for a Europe fit for the
Digital Age, said: “_We want to give consumers and companies even
more control over what can be done with their data, clarifying who can
access data and on what terms. This is a key Digital Principle that
will contribute to creating a solid and fair data-driven economy and
guide the Digital transformation by 2030.”_ 

The Data Act aims to overcome legal, economic and technical barriers
so that more data will be available for re-use. Specifically, the
proposal for the Data Act includes measures to:

 	* Allow users of connected devices to access their data and to share
that data with third parties to receive innovative data-driven
services. 
 	* Rebalance negotiation power for small and medium enterprises by
preventing abuse of contractual imbalances in data sharing contracts.
 	* Give the public sector access to data held by the private sector
in exceptional circumstances—such as public emergencies, like floods
and wildfires.
 	* Allowing customers to switch between cloud service-providers and
implementing safeguards against unlawful data transfer.

The Data Act aims to complement the Data Governance Act
[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020PC0767]
and will help free the flow of data within the EU and across sectors
to benefit businesses, researchers, the public administration and
society at large.

For an overview of the Data Act, read the fact sheet
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/news-redirect/736381]. 

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Publication Date/Time
2022-02-28T15:44:15+00:00
The Commission proposes new rules on who can use and access data
generated in the EU