MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) exchanged views on Wednesday 26 October on the amendments tabled to the Data Act (see EUROPE 13051/11).
The majority of MEPs’ interventions focused on the sixth chapter of the text, on which the IMCO Committee has exclusive competence. This includes provisions for changing data processing providers, especially when it comes to cloud computing.
“Consumers must be the ones to make the decisions and know when and to whom to switch service providers so that they get the full benefit. They should have access to all information”, commented the rapporteur, Adam Bielan (ECR, Polish).
While Mr Bielan’s report includes obligations to help consumers in this respect, further discussion is needed in the light of interventions by some other MEPs.
Indeed, for some, like Maria da Graça Carvalho (S&D, Portuguese), work should be done on the issue of definitions, which still lack “precision”. “We have not yet found the balance between those who provide cloud services, consumers and end-users”, she said.
Similarly, the issue of notice periods for switching suppliers was raised on several occasions. The European Commission expected a timeframe of between 30 days and six months. Mr Bielan’s report sets the deadline at 30 days. On this point, the Renew Europe group and the S&D seem to agree that this deadline should be adjusted.
“We have to find the balance and, as the S&D said, thirty days may be a bit short for the suppliers in question to make new proposals”, summarised Morten Løkkegaard (Renew Europe, Danish). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)