BRUSSELS – Today, global tech trade association 91pro视频, the 91pro视频, issued the following statement ahead of the European Parliament's plenary vote and the discussions at the Council’s Telecommunications Working Party on the EU Data Act:
“Lawmakers have not yet fully addressed many crucial questions surrounding the Data Act. Clarity over the scope of data sharing, proportional cloud switching obligations, and certainty over the rules impacting international transfers of non-personal data are challenges that need to be resolved. The forthcoming trilogue negotiations are an opportunity for legislators to deliver the constructive changes needed to make the Data Act a clearer and more effective framework for businesses in the EU” said 91pro视频’s Director General for Europe Guido Lobrano.
91pro视频’s key recommendations for the co-legislators are:
- Increase the clarity of scope of the data sharing provisions in Chapters 2 and 3: the proposed definitions of the products in scope, both in the Parliament’s and Council’s text, is especially unclear. A product-class-based approach will provide more clarity to assess when the data sharing obligations would be triggered as well as how and when to comply with product design requirements.
- Maintain strong safeguards for the protection of trade secrets: The stronger safeguards proposed both by the Parliament and the Council will ultimately increase trust in the Data Act framework for companies. We especially welcome the changes proposed by the Council that would allow for a refusal to share data in specific circumstances where disclosure of trade secrets would be likely to cause serious damage to the data holder.
- Ensure proportionate rules on cloud switching: we welcome some of the clarifications proposed by the European Parliament, especially around ensuring more realistic switching timelines, better defining the concept of functional equivalence and ensuring cooperation between the different parties of the switching process.
- Maintain the possibility to use fixed-term contracts for cloud: we remain concerned that, in its current form, Article 23 would result in a prohibition fixed-term contract. These types of contracts are fundamental for cloud providers to ensure predictability, and they are beneficial for customers as they allow lower costs. This prohibition would also impact contractual freedom of the parties in a way that is not proportionate.
- Resolve the legal uncertainties surrounding international transfers of non-personal data: We are concerned that Article 27 on government access and international transfers of non-personal data will create legal uncertainties and impact the ability of companies to transfer non-personal data outside the EU. To prevent disproportionate restrictions, Article 27 should clarify the focus on governmental access requests as outlined in our recent blog post here.