06/28/2023 02:43 (act. 06/28/2023 02:50)
EU deal despite corporate concerns ©APA/AFP
EU countries and the EU Parliament have agreed to the controversial Data Act. In addition to regulations on the processing of consumer and business data, measures to protect against illegal access by non-EU governments must also be ensured. Companies such as Siemens and SAP, on the other hand, have warned of possible forced disclosure of trade secrets, while US technology groups have criticized the compromise of international data transfer.
The project aims to make better use of data from modern cars, networked home appliances and industrial plants such as wind turbines in Europe. At the moment, it is often not clear who can do what with the data generated when using a dishwasher or an industrial machine with Internet access. In other cases, contracts stipulate that all data can be used by the manufacturer.
The Data Act aims to give consumers and businesses more control over data. In exceptional cases, such as floods or forest fires, authorities should also have access to data belonging to the private sector.
“The entry into force of the Data Act will unlock the economic and social potential of data and technology and help build a single data market,” said Erik Slottner, Sweden’s Minister of Public Administration, on Wednesday. EU law aims to curb the dominance of US tech giants: big cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google are therefore obliged to prevent illegal access to data and to set standards to facilitate the exchange of data. provider.
Concerns about data transfers rose in the EU after former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden’s revelations in 2013 about extensive US surveillance.