At their informal video conference, telecommunications ministers held a policy debate on the proposal for a data governance act, presented by the Commission on 25 November as the first legislative initiative under the 2020 European data strategy.
This major proposal aims to promote the availability of data for
reuse across sectors and borders. It is expected to play a central role
in enabling and guiding the creation of EU-wide common interoperable
data spaces in strategic sectors such energy, mobility and health.
Today’s discussion showed the ever-increasing importance of
data for our society and economy, as well as the vital need to make it
more available. For this, we need secure and trusted structures and
processes, and this is what data governance is all about.
Peter Altmaier, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy and chair of today’s meeting
During the discussion, ministers broadly welcomed the proposal as an
important enabler for a strong European data economy and increased
competitiveness.
Ministers generally deemed it important to encourage data sharing by
individuals and businesses. For this, it is essential to strengthen
citizens’ and businesses’ trust in sharing data. To create the
conditions for trust, it is crucial to have a clear and transparent
legislative framework, which safeguards privacy and security.
Many ministers emphasised the need to have a human-centric approach, with citizens in control of their data.
A number of delegations stressed the importance of interoperability for sharing data and avoiding lock-in effects.
Several ministers mentioned international data flows and the need to
respect the EU’s trade commitments in this regard and to ensure a level
playing field. Some of them pointed to cooperation with like-minded
trade partners in this area.
Today’s debate will provide guidance for forthcoming discussions
on the proposal in the telecommunications working party. The Portuguese
minister mentioned that the data governance act would be a high
priority for the incoming Portuguese presidency.
Council
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