It’s data protection day and time for another data privacy legislation from Europe! According to reports, the European Commission Data Act is expected to be introduced next week.
According to Euractiv (LEAK: Data Act’s proposed rules for data sharing, cloud switching, interoperability, written by Luca Bertuzzi), the European Commission Data Act proposal defines the rules for sharing data, conditions for access by public bodies, international data transfers, cloud switching and interoperability. It’s horizontal legislation for non-personal data that the European Commission plans to present on February 23rd. The new rules will apply to the manufacturers of connected products, digital service providers and users in the EU.
“The volume of data generated by humans and machines has been increasing exponentially, but most data are unused, or their value is concentrated in the hands of relatively few large companies,” the proposal reads.
The Commission intends to unleash the potential of data-driven innovation by creating legal obligations for data-sharing when connected devices (Internet of Things) are starting to be widespread.
Perhaps most notably, the European Commission Data Act introduces the principle that every user, individual or organization, should have access to the data it contributed to generating.
Conversely, connected products and related services, including virtual assistants, should make the data available to the user in an accessible manner by default. The user will be able to use this data or share it with third parties free of charge.
When sharing data with third parties, the data holder and the user can agree on measures to preserve the confidentiality of the data and trade secrets. The transmitted data cannot be used to develop products in competition with the data holder.
Notably, the users or third parties cannot share such data with organisations designated as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In turn, the gatekeepers are forbidden from soliciting the user to share data with them nor to receive data.
The proposed legislation also has provisions to address things like unfair contractual obligations, public sector access, cloud switching and interoperability, data transfers and the all important enforcement. You can check out much more about the reported details of the new legislation here.
So, what do you think? Did you know about the upcoming European Commission Data Act? You do now! Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.
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