New Data Governance Act Proposal
Last week, the European Commission adopted a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European Data Governance (Data Governance Act). It is an instrument aimed at enhancing data accessibility and building trust in data-sharing intermediaries through data sharing mechanisms.
New Data Governance Act proposal is the first of a set of measures announced in the 2020 European strategy for data. The strategy is a plan for European digital transformation over the next five years, intended to establish an uniform European way of data governance, as well as a single data market that would enable better data access for the economy, which would in turn significantly help Europe’s competitiveness. Understanding that data is an essential resource for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, job creation and societal progress in general, the strategy is still focused on putting people first.
For that purpose, the new Data Governance Act proposal was adopted, as it is supposed to facilitate data flow and sharing between different sectors and EU Member States. The Act will presumably help users to stay in control of their data, and will support the creation of so-called European Data Spaces in crucial sectors, such as health, the environment, energy,, mobility etc. Its four main goals are:
– making public sector data available for re-use, in situations where such data is subject to rights of others;
– sharing of data among businesses, against remuneration in any form;
– allowing personal data to be used with the help of a ‘personal data-sharing intermediary’;
– allowing data use on altruistic grounds.
The Commission estimates that the new Act will increase innovations and job-creation, Europe’s competitiveness, and that it will benefit the society as a whole, bringing in solutions to challenges, such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be interesting to follow the reactions to the Data Governance Act and its effects.
The Proposal for Data Governance Act in full is available here.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (hereinafter SCCR) made substantial progress on the issues advocated by the A2K Coalition (Access to Knowledge Coalition), which IPI is a member of. This year’s session was the most productive on the issues of exceptions and limitations. James Love (Knowledge Ecology International), a long-time observer at WIPO, described the outcome and the impact of the public interest community as the strongest since the conclusion of the Marrakech Treaty, which brought global copyright exceptions for the benefit of the blind and visually impaired.
Today, March 17, 2023, a symposium on law in the information society is taking place in the golden lecture hall of the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana. Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič will present copyright aspects of artificial intelligence at the symposium.
The third day of the 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is intended for discussion on the topic of exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in connection with the right to research.
The 43rd session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/43) is being held in Geneva from March 13 to 17, 2023. The Intellectual Property Institute has a permanent observer status at WIPO since 2022 and is also a member of the Access to Knowledge Coalition (A2K coalition).