European Union: Council agrees position proposal of Data Governance Act

The EU Council agreed on a common position on the proposal for a Data Governance Act (DGA) on 1 October 2021. The Data Governance Act (DGA) is part of the wider Commission Strategy and aims to strengthen mechanisms to increase availability of data and facilitate data-sharing across sectors and the EU. The DGA proposal addresses more specifically conditions under which the public sector may allow re-use of certain data, for instance data protected under commercial confidentiality or intellectual property rights. The proposal also establishes obligations on providers facilitating the sharing of personal and non-personal data and introduces the principle of neutrality in the data exchange process. Enforcement and compliance would be monitored by a competent authority designated by Member States, while a new structure, the European Data Innovation Board, will be created to advise and assist the Commission in enhancing the interoperability of data intermediation services and ensuring consistent practice in processing requests for public-sector data.