There is no end to the simplification of the European digital legislative framework. After revising the Artificial Intelligence Act and the [General] Data Protection Regulation—both very politically charged texts—Member States are tackling the last section of the ‘omnibus’ package that the European Commission presented this past November: the centralisation of several texts on data management by consolidating them into a single text, the ‘Data Act’ (see EUROPE 13755/4).
Two working documents that Agence Europe was able to consult compile member countries’ feedback and guidance on various key points in the text. There are still many sticking points as well.
Some of the feedback from Member States concerns the ‘Single Entry Point’ (SEP) system. Five countries—France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands—have issued a note in which they agree that this solution is not adequate to “remedy the incident reporting framework’s heterogeneity problem”.
The feedback also points to continuity, clarity, and correlation errors among the various definitions in the texts brought together in the ‘Data Act’. These issues also come up in relation to specific concepts, such as ‘exportable’ data, data secrecy when the data concern entities affected by trade secrets or military secrets, and even the integration of artificial intelligence models.
Similarly, the question of sharing certain data with the European Commission, the European Central Bank, or other European entities in the event of an emergency has been the subject of numerous comments stating that the wording is vague, unsuitable, or too far removed from what was originally intended.
Overall, merging several pieces of legislation seems to have created consistency problems with regard to the various definitions, objectives, entities, obligations, restrictions, and concepts that the legislation covers. Other feedback concerns the scope of the text, the powers held by the European Data Innovation Board (EDIB), and some of ENISA’s prerogatives. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)