European Union: Reached Council and Parliament provisional agreement on EU Data Act including data protection and access measures
Description
Reached Council and Parliament provisional agreement on EU Data Act including data protection and access measures
On 27 June 2023, the European Council presidency and European Parliament representatives reached a provisional agreement on the Data Act (Regulation on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data). The Act seeks to facilitate access to data and review the rules on the legal protection of databases, to balance the rights to access data and the incentives to invest in data within the current data protection rules. The Act will provide a framework for the accessing and sharing of data. Specifically, the Act sets out under which circumstances data may be used to produce value, with a focus on data access rights. Under the Act, entities could decide what data can be shared, and the manufacturer could choose not to make certain data available "by design". Furthermore, when companies draft data-sharing contracts, the law aims to rebalance the negotiation power in favour of SMEs by shielding them from unfair contractual terms imposed by companies in a significantly stronger bargaining position. The provisional agreement must now be endorsed by the Council and the European Parliament.
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