European Union: Commission publishes report on the public consultation on the Data Governance Act

On 6 December 2021, the European Commission published a summary report on the public consultation on the Data Governance Act that was held from 3 June 2021 to 3 September 2021. The report highlights the stakeholder's feedback on three measures outlined in the proposal: “business-to-government data sharing for the public interest”, “business-to-business data sharing” and “cloud services and non-personal data in international contexts”. Regarding the business-to-government data sharing, the respondents noted that the main barriers are the legal fragmentation across the European Union (EU) Member States, the absence of incentives, the lack of infrastructure and the lack of provisions that would ensure that the data will be used for the public interest. Regarding the data sharing between businesses, some obstacles identified are the absence of adequate technical standards and the lack of a legal framework for giving access to data. Finally, the report found that the majority of respondents believe that a right to portability for business users of cloud computing services should be included in the EU legislation.