The Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU invited Member States, in a document dated 22 November, of which EUROPE has obtained a copy, to consider a new version of the compromise text on European data governance (DGA) (see EUROPE 12803/2), in view of the upcoming inter-institutional discussions (‘trilogue’). These will take place on Tuesday 30 November.
The Slovenian Presidency has made several clarifications, without “substantial changes to the EU Council’s mandate”, it says.
For example, the European Parliament’s request for the inclusion of a provision that public bodies may make the data they hold available to SMEs, civil society and educational institutions - at a reduced price or free of charge - was accepted.
The Commission would, following the latest negotiations, inherit the task of establishing a single access point to the register of searchable data.
Furthermore, in the area of data intermediation services - which are supposed to facilitate data sharing - the Slovenian Presidency also agreed to introduce a new requirement prohibiting making the pricing of data intermediation services dependent on whether users have chosen to use, and pay for, other services that these services provide.
The Parliament’s request for the introduction of a logo, as a voluntary certification to build trust among users, was also approved.
The Presidency has also added an additional requirement for data altruism. In addition to a structural separation between data altruism activities and other activities carried out by an entity, these will also have to be “legally distinct”, the EU Council Presidency stresses.
As with data intermediation services, and in order to improve user confidence, a logo could also be visible to facilitate the identification of data altruism organisations.
Several issues to be addressed
In addition, a number of issues still need to be resolved in the upcoming trilogue negotiations.
Regarding the duration of the re-use of public sector data, the Parliament wants to set the limit at one year. The Council of the EU, on the other hand, advocates a three-year period.
On this point, among others, the Slovenian document states, the Presidency may have to make concessions in order to obtain concessions from the Parliament on other aspects. It will be up to the Member States to indicate their degree of flexibility on this aspect before the next discussions with the European Parliament.
Discussions will also need to be held on the support of re-users by public sector bodies. On this issue, the EU Council made an amendment to ensure that the public bodies in question are not required to assist potential re-users in obtaining user consent.
The Parliament, says the Council Presidency, is not willing to accept this change. For its part, the EU Council says it will resist any changes in the negotiations.
Future negotiations will also address the date of application of the DGA. The EU Council extended the implementation period from 12 to 18 months. The Parliament intends to maintain the fact that Member States have 12 months for the entry into force of the text.
Finally, the issue of data adequacy and the use of delegated - or executive - acts on certain aspects of the DGA are also expected to be on the agenda of the inter-institutional negotiations next Tuesday.
See the document: https://bit.ly/3nX4BFC (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)