In February 2022, the European Commission (EC) published the proposal for an EU Data Act Regulation, with the aim of ensuring fairness in the allocation of value from data among actors in the data economy and to foster access to and use of data.
The proposed EU Data Act would establish an ambitious and far-reaching framework for the use of industrial and other non-personal data within the EU economy. The EC's proposal seeks a balance between the significance of data as a source of new innovation and competitiveness as the EU’s digital market develops, and the risks of market distortions and barriers to market entry that could arise if data becomes too concentrated in a small number of powerful economic actors.
The act will undoubtedly bring forward changes to the cross-sectoral governance framework for data access and use, with the potential to radically change the data-driven business environment in the EU. In this client alert, we review and analyse the content of the legislative act, which is likely to feature highly in future EU policy discussions.
