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EU Data Act: Parliament misses opportunity for real data market

09 February 2023
by smeunited -- last modified 09 February 2023

"The result of the vote in the EP Committee for Industry and Research on the draft report for a European data law is a missed opportunity. The compromise falls short of our expectations and allows significant unjustified access restrictions for SMEs offering maintenance and repair services," said SMEunited Secretary General Véronique Willems.


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The explicit objective of the Commission's Data Act proposal was to promote competition in downstream markets by facilitating access to data required for maintenance and repair services. Moreover, its main intention was to set basic principles as a cross-sectoral framework and not to get lost in detailed regulations. The Data Act in its current form, as envisioned in the ITRE draft report, would no longer meet this aspiration.

The preliminary position adopted by the ITRE committee consolidates the already privileged position of data holders, guaranteeing them exclusive data sovereignty. The ITRE report excludes all processed data from the scope if it has been generated by complex priority algorithms. This affects many areas, such as access to vehicle data in the automotive industry. Thus, for many sectors in the midst of digital transformation, the Data Act loses relevance and offers little added value over existing contractual solutions.

In addition, data recipients such as SMEs will face additional disproportionate obligations and liability risks that go beyond the level of protection as foreseen in the Commission's draft.

SMEunited is the association of Crafts and SMEs in Europe with around 70 member organisations from over 30 European countries. SMEunited represents national cross-sectoral Craft and SME federations, European SME branch organisations and associate members. Combined, we represent more than 12 million enterprises with around 55 million employees across Europe. SMEunited is also a recognised employers' organisation and European Social Partner. SMEunited was formally known as UEAPME.

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