Business is asking for legislative clarity in EU Data Act text

Global tech trade association ITI, the Information Technology Industry Council, issued a joint statement on the EU Data Act together with 12 other business associations, representing a large portion of the European and global data economy in various sectors. 

The statement highlights that several provisions in the EU Data Act present significant technical and legal challenges, for companies from all sizes and from all sectors, and calls on EU legislators to implement certain changes in the text of the EU Data Act that will increase legal clarity. It also calls on policymakers to ensure these elements are addressed before finalizing the legislative text.

“The breadth of this coalition shows both the widespread interest in the EU Data Act proposal, as well as its broad, systemic impact across all sectors of the European economy. It is crucial that legislators prioritize quality and clarity of regulation over speed in the legislative process, to ensure key concepts are well understood, deliberately weigh the different options, and – most of all – carefully assess their full impact,” said ITI’s Director General for Europe Guido Lobrano.

Specifically, the coalition asked policymakers to address the following points as the legislative discussions advance in order to:

• Clarify the definition of data;
• Take into account legitimate business interests;
• Ensure protection of trade secrets;
• Ensure financial and operational viability of cloud contracts;
• Ensure cooperation between all parties in cloud switching;
• Reconsider the notion of functional equivalence for infrastructure services; and
• Avoid hindering international data transfers.

The full coalition includes: Adigital, AFNUM, Allied for Startups, CCIA, Confederation of Danish Industry, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SP CR), Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Developers Alliance,  Ecommerce Europe, IBEC, Infobalt Lithuania, ITI, and Teknikföretagen.

You can read the full letter here.