28 January is worldwide Data Protection Day.
A day to reflect on the data-driven world we live in where the fourth industrial revolution is well under way, but also a day to look ahead.
Although the focus since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force in 2018 has mainly been on personal data, today – at a time when even a digital life in a parallel meta-world no longer seems so absurd – we would like to take you somewhere else. We are zooming in on digitisation and the potential of data in general, beyond the boundaries of the GDPR.
Indeed, data is at the heart of the European Union’s digital strategy and data strategy that will come to fruition this year. Just this week the European Commission published a Declaration on Digital Rights and Principle for the Digital Decade. In the coming months, we can expect to see various European rules that will boost the use of data and further drive digital transformation.
In this update, we present an overview of some of the legislative proposals that are on the European menu this year:
1. Data Governance Act (DGA)
With the Data Governance Regulation, the Commission wants to promote the untapped potential of certain public sector data by facilitating its re-use by companies and for scientific research. In this way, the first bricks are being laid for a European data space and a single market for data in the European Union in which data is freely accessible. Read more here.
2. Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA)
The duo of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) propose a comprehensive set of new rules for all kinds of digital services, including social media, online marketplaces and other online players operating in the European Union. The DSA will be a regulation with broad application, focusing on intermediary services and online platforms. The DMA, on the other hand, focuses on so-called gatekeepers – large platforms that can disrupt the market. Read more here.
3. Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA)
Finally, the Artificial Intelligence Regulation will impose various obligations on producers, importers, distributors and users of AI systems, tailored to the risks associated with the use of specific AI systems. In this way, the Commission wants to ensure that AI systems placed on the EU market are safe and respect fundamental rights and EU values, but at the same time create a framework to facilitate investment and innovation in AI. Read more here.
Feel free to contact us with questions about these regulations or their impact on your organisation.
