The European Commission’s proposed Data Governance Act: some initial reflections on the increasingly complex EU regulatory puzzle of stimulating data sharing

Abstract

As part of the European strategy for data, the European Commission published its proposal for a Data Governance Act (DGA) in November 2020. The legislative instrument aims at stimulating the exchange of data by increasing trust in data intermediaries and by strengthening data-sharing mechanisms across the EU. This chapter reflects on how the proposed DGA will relate to other parts of the EU regulatory framework applicable to data sharing, including the General Data Protection Regulation, EU competition law and the proposed Digital Markets Act. We illustrate that the new governance institutions established by the proposed DGA create some legal uncertainty, which potentially put its data sharing objectives at jeopardy and can undermine the relationship with other areas of law. To address these concerns, we recommend the EU legislator to provide clearer guidance upfront about how the DGA interacts with other legal fields.