Digital Transformation: Orgalim submission on “Legislative framework for the governance of common European data spaces”

Published: 31 July 2020

Policies & Issues: Digital Transformation

Orgalim, Europe’s technology industries, has provided its views on the Commissions consultation on the legislative framework for the governance of common European data spaces.

Europe’s technology industries see the transition to a data economy as an essential one for their future growth and competitiveness. This vision has already been expressed in previous position paper on  “Digital Transformation: Orgalim Position Paper Towards a Common European Data Space for Smart Manufacturing” and the answer to the public consultation on European strategy for data

Orgalim sees the transition to a data-driven economy as essential for their future growth and competitiveness, as well as inevitable. Our companies are developing and providing sensor-equipped machinery, data-based services, smart production systems and intelligent products. Data flows make it possible to increase manufacturing productivity and tap into new efficiency gains, whilst simultaneously enabling new data-driven services and business models.

Orgalim supports the development of common European data spaces to facilitate voluntary data sharing in strategic sectors and domains of public interest, while respecting intellectual property rights (IPR) and the know-how of the companies (IPR), data privacy and security requirements. A clear governance would encourage and facilitate B2B data sharing by creating more legal certainty, including on competition law aspects, and technical feasibility, including interoperability. At the same time, political intention to create and oversee the data spaces must be backed up by sufficient funding to ensure their success.

Participation in such spaces should remain voluntary, contract based, access should be non-discriminatory and open to all players after having ensured that they comply with existing EU rules. Companies need legal certainty and a trusted market environment to share, transfer and access data to enable them to innovate in new data-driven business models. To that end, trade secrets and intellectual property rights of companies shall be protected. The willingness of industry to share data on a voluntary basis could be further encouraged by platforms and data spaces offering data management models that ensure that data is shared in a fair manner, aligned with the business interest of all the stakeholders involved, in particular the most vulnerable ones, like the SMEs.

Based on this, Orgalim proposes the following key elements for a European data policy framework:

  1. Opening up data: freedom of contract as the guiding principle
  2. Liability
  3. Protection of data: know-how and intellectual property rights
  4. Cybersecurity
  5. Interoperability and portability: key to unlocking data sharing in the EU
  6. The role of competition law
  7. Unlocking the potential of international data transfers
  8. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
  9. Raising awareness

In addition, we believe that data will also have a key place in the economic recovery strategy for the EU, given its potential for innovation and job-creation, as well as its contribution to the efficiency of industries. We therefore call on the Commission to ensure that Europe’s technology industries are closely involved in the further development of clear governance framework for common European data spaces.

To read the position in full, please download the document above.

Authors

Luykx
Christoph Luykx
Policy Director
Tumenas
Tadas Tumenas
Adviser - Digital

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Digital Transformation: Joint Statement - The Data Act is a leap into the unknown [1 February 2023]

Digital Transformation: Underestimating the Data Act’s impact on trade secrets’ protection will undermine European industrial competitiveness [17 January 2023]

Digital Transformation: Industry calls on EU legislators to respect principles of the New Legislative Framework in the AI Act [30 September 2022]

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