BDI statement on the EU Data Act in the public consultation
Preliminary note The EU Commission rightly points out that the considerable potential for value creation in the handling of non-personal data is not yet being exploited. The fact that many companies still have some catching up to do in the economic use of data is demonstrated by a representative study commissioned by the BDI entitled "Data Economy in Germany" 1. Of the approximately 500 companies surveyed, only a total of 28 percent could be classified as „digital“ with regard to their own data management. 23 percent of the companies surveyed stated that they regularly search for new data sources and possible applications as part of a strategic process. 45 percent of the companies surveyed do not use data at all to optimize products or business models. Mirroring this, only 12 percent of the companies surveyed are willing to share their own data with third parties. The above considerations should not, however, obscure the fact that many companies - especially small and medium-sized ones - lack the ability to participate in the data economy in the absence of structured data management. However, there are a large number of companies that show a great willingness to share data, but in practice refrain from exchanging data with other companies because of too much (legal) uncertainty. This is where the EU Commission should take action in the Data Act. With the Data Act, the EU Commission is looking at a whole series of projects in different areas of law to increase the use and sharing of data. In the view of the BDI, however, this initiative, which is worthy of support in principle, should be based more on an evidence-based approach. There are currently no general imbalances or gaps in the legal framework that structurally impede the exchange of industrial data. On the contrary, many new initiatives are currently emerging within Europe, such as the European cloud project Gaia-X, with which the establishment of European data ecosystems is being developed, thus strengthening the trust that is sometimes lacking in the B2B sector. Strong political intervention within the framework of the Data Act threatens to impair these positive developments in industrial data exchange. This harbours the risk that the uncertainty of all players will increase further, which could have a counterproductive effect on the necessary innovative strength of companies and thus also on the objectives of the EU Commission in establishing an EU internal data market.
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Datenwirtschaft in Deutschland - Wo stehen die Unternehmen in der Datennutzung und was sind ihre größten Hemmnisse?", IW study commissioned by the BDI, February 2021, available here: https://bdi.eu/media/publikationen/?publicationtype=Studien#/publikation/news/datenwirts chaft-in-deutschland/.
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