The Data Governance Act: Breaking down the strategy for data

By Amber Bolk

Introduction

Data has become a huge part of our daily life, and the European Commission realised that data sharing and the re-use of data had limited capacity. With that, the Data Governance Act (COM/2022/68) was born as the first deliverable under the European Strategy for Data. It came into force in June 2022 and will be applicable as of September 2023. This blog aims to provide you with a clear overview of three key aims of the Act, their benefits, and potential concerns.

Aim 1: Wider re-use of protected public-sector data

Although the Open Data Directive (2019/1024) allows for the use and re-use of public data, certain categories of protected data remain inaccessible, even for research and innovation activities. Therefore, the Commission decided to build upon the Directive, making available under-utilised data across the EU for the benefit of society. This concept will enable the re-use and sharing of protected data held by public sector bodies in a safe manner across sectors (Articles 3-8). It won’t create a strict obligation on these bodies to allow data re-use (unlike the ODD) nor release them from confidentiality obligations without prior consent. The Act applies to certain categories of protected data held by public sector bodies that are protected through either:

(i) commercial confidentiality,

(ii) statistical confidentiality,

(iii) intellectual property rights of third parties’ protection, or

(iv) personal data protection.

Where data are made available, they can be shared via a single information point that receives requests for re-use. Public-sector bodies will approve these requests and facilitate re-use, ensuring that the conditions in Article 5 are upheld. These conditions should be non-discriminate, proportionate, and objectively …read more

Read more here:: https://www.eipa.eu/blog/the-data-governance-act-breaking-down-the-strategy-for-data/