Highlight 16/2022 – The European Data Governance Act: A big step for the future of data sharing

Olha Krylova, 1 April 2022

The European Data Governance Act (DGA) is a proposal of the European Commission to establish a new governance framework for sharing data. The first initiative was adopted on 25 November 2020. The DGA contains provisions on how personal and non-personal data is accessed, shared, and monetized. The EU data economy is expected to grow from €324.86 billion at the end of 2019 to between €432 360 and €827 089 billion by 2025, accounting for between 3.3 % and 5.9 % of EU-27 GDP. Yet, the idea of the DGA is not only to receive economic benefits and commercialize the data. It also aims at providing the EU society with social benefits, as certain categories of data are currently not available on databases, not even for research or public interests.

The DGA seeks to make data easily and freely accessible and shareable within the EU. Specific attention is given to the risk of non-EU countries gaining access to data. The access to non-personal data will only be given to third States, if an international agreement is in place between the EU and the third country. Thus, the key features and objectives of the DGA are as follows:

• It establishes a legal regime for the re-use of data held by public authorities within the EU.
• It defines conditions for re-use of specific public sector data. Personal data should be anonymized and commercially confidential information should be deleted.
• It introduces a Data Innovation Board, which will provide expert advice for the development of guidelines for European data spaces and will advise the European Commission on cybersecurity requirements for data exchanges and storage. The board will be constituted by members of academia, research, industry, and civil society.
• It incorporates the idea of data altruism, which relates to individuals and organizations that collect and share data on a not-for-profit basis for the public benefit, for example, on health and environmental grounds.

In addition, the DGA proposes the introduction of codes of conduct, to be developed by the European Commission in close cooperation with data-altruism organizations.

The DGA shall contribute to the establishment of a common European data space, namely a single market for data. It has enormous potential for society in using, re-using, and sharing data. With more data available, the public sector can develop better policies, leading to more transparent governance and more efficient public services. Society will benefit from more evidence-based policies and better solutions to societal challenges, such as climate change and pandemics. Businesses will benefit from a reduction in costs for acquiring, integrating, and processing data, and from lower barriers to entering markets. 

The DGA is expected to bring benefits to several sectors, such as health, agriculture, mobility, environment, and public administration. For example, the re-use of health data could advance research and contribute to finding a cure for rare or chronic diseases. Environmental data could be used to combat climate change, reduce CO₂ emissions, and fight against natural emergencies, such as floods and wildfires. Yet, one concern remains regarding the obligation of public authorities to make data available. The DGA encourages, but does not oblige, public authorities to make specific public sector data available for individuals and the private sector (Article 3.3 DGA). This provision creates uncertainty regarding the future efficiency of the initiative, as public authorities do not have a strict obligation to make data available. The success of this provision depends on the willingness of public authorities to abide by this recommendation.

Olha Krylova, Highlight 16/2022 – The European Data Governance Act: A big step for the future of data sharing, 1 April 2022, available at www.meig.ch

The views expressed in the MEIG Highlights are personal to the author and neither reflect the positions of the MEIG Programme nor those of the University of Geneva.