03 September, 2021

ETNO comments to the Public Consultation on the Data Act

ETNO welcomes the opportunity to comment on the measures being explored by the European Commission in preparing the Data Act. This document complements our response to the public consultation questionnaire with regards to the two specific sections on business-to-government data sharing for the public interest and on business-to-business data sharing, building on our recent feedback to the Commission’s Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) on the Data Act.

ETNO supports the overall objective of fostering data sharing and re-use across sectors and national borders. However, future regulatory measures to boost data exchanges and promote greater data availability should avoid adverse effects on competition and innovation. Mandated access to data, especially in the business-togovernment context, could have a particularly chilling effect on European providers of data analytics offerings. Public administration should rely on a variety of providers to avoid that data outsourcing be seized by few data-dominant companies, with the risk of strengthening those tech giants even further.

Read the full document at the link below.