“Data is at the core of the digital economy and an essential resource to secure the green and digital transitions.”

With these words, the European Commission opens its new EU Data Act proposal (officially the ‘proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on harmonised rules on fair access and use of data’), launched today, to reshape its data strategy and prepare for the challenges in the years to come.

Among its many objectives is to build trust in the face of the sheer volume of data generated by humans and machines on a daily basis and unlock the potential of data-driven innovation by opening opportunities for the reuse of data and removing barriers to the development of the European data economy.

The proposal deals with data sharing obligations for stakeholders, safeguards for data transfer and regulation of access by public bodies creating harmonised rules for the whole bloc.