Recently, the EU published the EU Data Strategy and invited stakeholders for feedback. We welcome this opportunity and the consultation for the Data Strategy and support the idea that the European Union needs an overarching data strategy in order to achieve the benefits of the Single Market and avoid fragmentation. The data strategy should be complemented by robust funding to enable innovation in the EU and improve competitiveness of European businesses. In order to boost the data economy, the Data Strategy can be an important trigger. The GDPR was a first step for EU-wide unified rules and high standards but the review has shown that there are still many practical issues and that a common understanding, a harmonized interpretation is yet to be achieved. New legal enablers for data use should now be advanced via the sectorial data spaces for in-stance. As the nature of data is extremely diverse and complex, we do not think that a “one-size fits all strategy” (as with the GDPR) is suitable to achieve that goal. Given the differences across industries, sectors and consumers, targeted measures are more likely to be successful in the beginning.
Our Position Paper on the Consultation for the EU Data Strategy with detailed recommendations can be downloaded below.
