Joint industry statement on the Data Act: Safeguards necessary to ensure Chapter V preserves data holders’ fundamental rights

As representatives of European businesses, the signatories of this joint statement want to express their deep concerns about Chapter V of the EU Data Act on how to organise mandatory Business-to-Government (B2G) data sharing. While serious concerns extend to provisions far beyond Chapter V, the present joint statement will only address those related to Articles 14 to 22. We acknowledge that exceptional situations, and in particular unforeseeable emergency events, may require public authorities to use exceptional powers to obtain specific data held by private entities, which would enable them to remedy such crisis.

However, Chapter V of the Data Act raises major concerns over its compatibility with the EU’s legal order and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Our assessment is confirmed by the highly critical opinion of the European Data Protection Board, which highlights the lack of “lawfulness, necessity and proportionality” and the lack of safeguards to protect data holders from arbitrary interferences with their fundamental rights.

We therefore call on the EU institutions to introduce safeguards to ensure Chapter V’s compatibility with the GDPR, the EU Charter of fundamental rights and key principles organising the rule of law.