The high-level conference on the data economy—which took place in Helsinki (Finland) on Monday and Tuesday, 25 and 26 November—concluded with the adoption of horizontal principles that focus on people, prosperity, and balance. The SWIPO group (working group on cloud switching and porting data) also took the opportunity to deliver its codes of conduct on data portability and its governance framework.
President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen indicated that she attached great importance to the data economy. In her policy guidelines, she promises to invest in “tools for data sharing and data usage” to lead the next generation of digital giants.
Horizontal principles. The horizontal principles adopted at the end of the conference concern access, reuse, human rights, reciprocity, ethical sustainability, and adaptability (see EUROPE 12354/5). They have been available for consultation on a dedicated website for several months. In his speech to the participants, Roberto Viola—the director-general of the European Commission’s communication and networks department (DG CONNECT)—indicated that the question of whether the principles should be incorporated into law remained open. [principles: http://bit.ly/2qDzLac ]
Free flow of data. The conference also focused on the free flow of data, following the adoption of Regulation 2018/1807 on the free flow of non-personal data in June 2018 (see EUROPE 12045/7). According to the Xinhua news agency, Roberto Viola reportedly indicated that private companies should also transmit data to the authorities. “By way of example, he said that private health care providers should transfer data to the health ministries. As for sharing data between businesses, he said, ‘It has to be fair’”, notes Xinhua.
Data portability. The SWIPO working group also provided Roberto Viola with its codes of conduct on data exchange and sharing. These codes—prepared since the group was established in April 2018 and provided for in Regulation 2018/1807—concern both infrastructure as a service and software as a service. They establish commitments (which are non-binding, since they are self-regulatory) for cloud-computing service providers to provide their customers with information and an efficient portability process. The codes are accompanied by a governance agreement that makes the codes of conduct applicable in practice, for example, by setting up a complaint mechanism for users in the event of non-compliance with the codes. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)