At their plenary session on Thursday 9 November, MEPs approved the agreement reached between the EU Council and the European Parliament on the night of 27-28 June (see EUROPE 13211/19) on the ‘Data Act’ (481 votes in favour, 31 against and 71 abstentions). The agreement had already been approved on 19 July in the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) (see EUROPE 13226/30).
As a reminder, the text provides, among other things, for users of connected devices to be able to access the data they generate and change their ‘cloud’ data processing provider more easily. The text should also contribute to the development of new artificial intelligence systems (see EUROPE 13286/23), for which large quantities of data are required.
In addition, the exceptional circumstances or emergency situations in which public sector bodies will be able to access and use data held by the private sector - such as floods or forest fires - are specified.
Other provisions are designed to protect business secrecy and prevent unfair contractual clauses imposed unilaterally by a company with a dominant market position on another company. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)