The Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (‘Coreper’) are expected to validate their position for the upcoming inter-institutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) on the ‘Data Act’ on 22 March.
“The vast majority of Member States have supported the new text and the Swedish Presidency’s ambitions to go to Coreper to get the mandate for negotiations with the Parliament” an EU diplomat confirmed to EUROPE, the day after a meeting of the EU Council’s Telecoms Working Group. “Coreper’s mandate should be supported unanimously next week” he added.
Only one change was made to the sixth version of the compromise text, which was proposed by the Swedish Presidency of the Council after the working group meeting. For example, the text now states that theData Actis “without prejudice to national or EU legislation when it comes to obtaining data for scientific research”.
The list of data generated by users of connected devices and to which they can request access had been revised in this sixth version of the compromise document. For example, due to a lack of clarity in the definition, the Swedish Presidency removed data related to “specific know-how” from the exclusion of the scope. However, the sixth draft of the document maintains the exclusion from the scope of application of data processed by systems subject to intellectual property rights.
In addition, this sixth version of the compromise text also provides for the possibility for data holders to refuse to share their data when they can prove that sharing the data could cause them serious harm. The list of exceptional circumstances has been expanded to include, among other things, the unlawful disclosure of information covered by business secrecy.
The trilogues can start as soon as the EU Council has adopted its negotiating mandate, the European Parliament having already adopted its position on Tuesday 14 March in plenary session (see EUROPE 13141/9). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)