Europe has been able to verify during the pandemic that the digital train has only accelerated its speed. And, to get on it, the EU cannot stay out of the data business .
With a view to breaking the duopoly between the United States and China again, the European Commission launched new legislation that will create a single market for data.
And, on the verge of approving the Digital Services law, Brussels proposes an alternative model to that of the large technological giants based on the creation of intermediaries that guarantee their neutrality and transparency in the management of data.
European companies were left out of the business of individual data. Big tech dominate an industry that generated € 59 billion before the pandemic.
The intensive use of new technologies during the pandemic has only increased this activity and has concentrated even more in the hands of big technology the raw material that Europe wants to retain: data.
Despite the fact that Brussels almost threw in the towel in areas such as social networks, led by Facebook or Twitter, it wants to stand up to the United States and China in the business arena.
The ultimate goal is to create a single European data market with an alternative model to that of large US corporations with rules that allow trust between administrations, companies and citizens to share data.
This model is based on the figure of the “data intermediary”, who will be “neutral” and “transparent” agents or companies that drive away, for example, misgivings about sharing business data due to a possible loss of competitiveness.
To ensure that neutrality, these companies will not be able to exchange the data that they obtain for their own interest (for example, by selling it to another company or using it for their commercial strategy) and will have to comply with strict requirements. In other words, any company that wants to enter into this dynamic must develop this activity in a clearly separate way from the rest.
“You don’t have to share all your data. But if you want and the data is sensitive, you should be able to do it in a way that you can trust and in which the data is protected.
We want to give citizens and companies the tools to continue controlling this data. And to build confidence that they will be managed in line with European values and fundamental rights, ”said Vice President Margrethe Vestager .
At his side, the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said that “Europe needs a single open and sovereign market for data. Accompanied by the right investments and key infrastructures, our regulation will help Europe to become the world’s leading data continent. “
European companies were left out of the individual data business. Today, big American tech companies dominate an industry that generated 59 billion euros before the pandemic.
The intensive use of new technologies during confinements has greatly increased this activity and has concentrated even more in the hands of these companies – even larger – the raw material that Europe wants to retain: data.
Despite the fact that Brussels almost threw in the towel in areas such as social networks, led by Facebook or Twitter , it does want to stand up to the US and China in data management in the business field.
The objective of the European Commission is to create a single European data market with an alternative model to that of large US corporations based on rules that allow trust between administrations, companies and citizens to share data.
The key to the proposal is the figure of the “data intermediary”, which will be made up of “neutral” and “transparent” agents or companies that drive away, for example, misgivings about sharing business data due to a possible loss of competitiveness.
To ensure that neutrality, these intermediary companies will not be able to exchange the data they obtain for their own interest (for example, by selling it to another company or using it for their business strategy) and will have to comply with strict requirements.
In other words, any society that wants to enter into this dynamic must carry out this activity in a clearly separate way from the rest.
Companies that want to engage in data intermediation must notify the national competition authorities, which must control that they comply with all requirements. Brussels, for its part, will also exercise surveillance through a register of all these entities.
”You don’t have to share all your data. But if you want to and the data is sensitive, you should be able to do it in a way that you can trust and in which the data is protected. We want to give citizens and companies the tools to continue controlling them.
And to build confidence that they will be handled in line with European values and fundamental rights, ”said Vice President Margrethe Vestager. At his side, the Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, said that Europe needs “an open and sovereign single market for data.”
“Accompanied by the right investments and key infrastructures, our regulation will help Europe to become the world’s leading data continent,” added the French commissioner.
The Executive of Ursula Von der Leyen already set himself the goal of economic digitization at his start a year ago.
Before the pandemic broke out, the Commission presented its strategy to regain ground in the data business on two fronts : by creating a single space for data and a large European cloud, in line with the project they had set up. Germany and France underway.
The Commission will invest 2 billion to promote this single market through the necessary infrastructures and mechanisms.
Breton recalled that data management is part of the “European industrial policy”, which wants to get on what he believes will be the second digital wave, in which the use of data will transcend the scope of the consumer and will occur especially in the business one.
The regulation also includes the creation of a European Data Innovation Council for the Twenty-seven to share best practices, especially in the surveillance of intermediaries.
Brussels also plans to launch several sectoral initiatives related to data this year, such as a proposal to share health information and another for the one related to the fight against climate change