BDI statement on the EU Data Act Proposal
Preliminary remarks The BDI supports the intention of the EU Commission to promote the use and fair sharing of data. The fact that many companies still have some catching up to do in the economic use of data is shown 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 uses as part of a strategic process. 45 percent of the companies do not use data at all to optimise products or business models. Mirroring this, only twelve percent of the companies surveyed are willing to share their own data with third parties. The Data Act offers the opportunity to shape a data economy guided by European values. However, it is to be feared that the Data Act will be associated with considerable additional effort, costs and legal uncertainties for many companies, and that they will have less incentive to invest in their own IoT products and services as a result. With the present proposal for a regulation on harmonised rules for fair access to and use of data (Data Act), the European Commission is choosing an extremely complex set of horizontal rules that would fundamentally change the "rules of the game" of the European data economy. As already noted in our submissions in the run-up to the legislative proposal2 , the need for such a broad intervention in the basic principles of the data economy in still young markets is not sufficiently apparent to us. In its most recent progress report, the EU Commission itself points to a very heterogeneous development in the individual industries and sectors, regarding the EU data spaces.3 In this respect, a more sector- and application-specific approach seems to be much more effective in advancing the data economy in Europe. The draft misses the opportunity to remove some major obstacles to the economic use of data - for example, the demarcation from the scope of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Instead, all IoT fields of application are subject to considerable additional requirements, interference in private autonomy and specifications for product design, without it being clear whether this will lead to the desired positive effect for the European „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 at: https://bdi.eu/media/publikationen/?publicationtype=Studien#/publikation/news/datenwirts chaft-in-deutschland/. 2 BDI statement of 03.09.2021 in the context of the public consultation on the EU Data Act. 3 Commission Staff Working Document on Common European Data Spaces, SWD (2022) 45 final. 1
Federation Of German Industries
German Lobbyregister Number R000534 Address Breite Straße 29 10178 Berlin Postal address 11053 Berlin Germany Contact Dr Michael Dose T: 030 2028 1560 F: 030 2028 2560 E-mail: m.dose@bdi.eu Internet www.bdi.eu
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