Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) debated on Tuesday 29 November the amendments tabled on the report for opinion by Adam Bielan (ECR, Polish) on the ‘Data Act’ (see EUROPE 13058/2).
While more than 600 amendments were tabled by the members of the IMCO Committee, the discussions logically concentrated on the sixth chapter of the text, for which the IMCO Committee has exclusive competence. This includes provisions for changing data processing providers, especially when it comes to cloud computing.
“The deadlines are quite tight. I hope we will have time. Otherwise, the two options we will have are to vote on the amendments individually or to vote on the compromises only on the most important points”, commented Mr Bielan.
On the EPP side, Maria da Graça Carvalho (Portuguese) insisted that the scope and data concerned should be better specified. In addition, the MEP also felt that SMEs should be better included so that they “can participate in the data economy”. This will require “guidance from the Member States”, she added.
Several MEPs also insisted on putting an end to aggressive charges, which Ms Carvalho said “undermine people’s ability to switch suppliers”.
“We must not allow dominant market players to discourage consumers from switching, or allow them to impose unreasonable switching fees”, agreed Alexandra Geese (Greens/EFA, German).
In addition, part of the discussion focused on the flexibility given to consumers and service providers when changing providers. For some groups, such as the S&D, the door should not be closed to the possibility for companies to have longer deadlines. Mr Bielan’s report initially called for a 30-day deadline.
For Renew Europe, some definitions should be refined and the group is not in favour of reducing - or abolishing - these deadlines either. “We think that this involves too much flexibility. We need to support contractual freedom while having more compatibility”, said Svenja Hahn (German).
The vote in the IMCO Committee, which is acting as the associated committee on this matter, is scheduled for January. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)