Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE) speaks to the press on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on European data governance (Data Governance Act). This transcript is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

press conference

reform of the UE Data Protection Framework (T)

NIEBLER, Angelika (EPP, DE)

Press conference by Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), rapporteur, on the Data Governance Act - EU initiatives towards a European Data Economy

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Thank you very much. I'm going to speak in my mother language in German, but translation is available mainly on one hand. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning to you from me. Currently we are living through difficult times as a result of the leaking of the terrible war of aggression in Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Then there's the climate catastrophe and all these things are grabbing our attention, so digital matters really are not in the forefront of our minds. I think there's less attention than going on the digital economy or data economy, although I think we're seeing important changes taking that we're seeing hopefully the adoption of the Data Governance Act today.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, So why do we need a data governance act? Well, it's high time in the area of data and the digital economy that we act, quite honestly. If we look at the current situation, if we look at the status quo, then I think we're forced to note that the the the the birth of the online platform economy and the revolution that goes with it.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Personal data, I mean, we slept through all this. The are the big US platform providers Google, Facebook, Amazon, they were there at the very first hour and very much dominate the digital economy. Now we want to counter that at the level of the EU economy. The data strategy was presented already in 2020. And that went hand-in-hand with a whole raft of legislative proposals that are currently being discussed.

paragraph-5 The Data Governance Act I think plays a very important role in that context, not only in terms of the playing field making a level playing field in terms of the digital economy or data economy. But I think we want to change those rules. So the Data Governance Act is the start of a paradigm shift that is necessary if we want a growing and innovative data economy as a counter proposal. If you like to the approaches that are being adopted in the USA and in China.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, In the USA data is big business. And in the USA, there's a change of thought on that, but I think the organisation of data space in the USA has been left to the private sector almost exclusively, which has led to this huge concentration. China has a combination of sort of a state control major tech companies and the China controls a huge amount of data. Data is state property so we're trying to tread a European way in Europe, it is the data subject who is the centre of our attention.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, You'll recall, I'm sure the discussions that led to the GDPR. I think in Europe, we are presenting ourselves with a huge opportunity to emancipate the data economy or the digital economy and to step out from the shadow of the data data police. For our small and medium sized enterprises, that is a huge opportunity. Now, the aim of being pursued with the Data Governance Act is fairly straightforward.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, We want to break with a look at effect. We want to have data being shared. The sharing of information must be easier and data has to be made more usable for the economy than is the case today. So with the data companies that we are creating a context where we open up digital spaces so that service providers can offer their services, data providers are not pursuing any of their own is of commercial purposes and they will be the trusted contact points and they will be responsible for making data sharing possible in the first place.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, So what about the details of the Data Governance Act? Well, there are new rules on mediation services, data mediation services, and those rules, amongst other things, say that these ticket marketplaces will have to be neutral in practise.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, That means that a platform that, for example, is dealing with harvesting machines combine harvesters agricultural equipment, and that data is not being used for sort of algorithms within the agricultural sector. That data is being made available and then can be used on the basis of other business and models on the basis of the data made available.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, So we want to guard against the concentration effect and ensure that both buyers and sellers of data can have confidence in the fact that through data sharing, they won't suffer in terms of a competitor. They won't be at a competitive disadvantage in terms of the role of third parties. And I think that is a huge difference, as I'm sure you will note in that the data used by the major tech companies for their own commercial purposes, that is that is something we want to avoid the neutrality of data mediations of us.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, This is at the heart of the Dutch government's Data Governance Act, and we hope that entrepreneurs will put this into practise. A data mediation service should have a sort of a low threshold for all those who wish to offer their data in the marketplace so that supply and demand can be brought in relation one to the other.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Now, for some ease that I think is important, let me remind you that the Federal Association of German Industry recently adopted a study in Monkstown. Amongst other things, it said that 43 percent of respondents don't use a data from Izmir is because they can't find the data that they would actually need.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, The data is there, of course, but they themselves don't know who they need to turn to in order to have access to that data. And they have the impression that if they contribute data to a pool and they're uncertain as to what the rules are in terms of data processing. So that's a huge barrier. As far as some ease concerns with this concept of independent data mediation services, I think we're doing something very positive indeed.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Apart from that, in the Data Governance Act, there's the notion of data altruism altruistically making available data in the future, it should be possible to have data altruistic organisations or associations that would operate subject to certain conditions, but see to it that more people and therefore enterprises are prepared to make available data in the general interest.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, And then one last point that I would like to say on the DGA is the so-called data innovation board that would be brought into being thanks to this new act. We want to see the emergence of a fair data ecosystem that is a neutral and provides equal access to all. And therefore, in the Data Innovation Board, I think to be important to be able to draw on a broad range of expertise, bringing together representatives, civil society, associations of industry, for example, working together with the data in innovation boards in the era of the digital economy.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Providing an incentive, then for other regulatory steps or measures, possibly these innovation boards, so I will come to my conclusion. I think the data revolution is not waiting for Europe. And we've got to act now if we want to ensure that European, digital or enterprises have a place to take up within the general data economy.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, And I think the Data Governance Act is going to be an important step to reaching that objective if the DGA is adopted, and I'm assuming it will be. And amongst the various political groups within the house, we've had lengthy discussions on the Data Governance Act and have adopted it. There is a consensus, so I think the DGA is an important contribution to pushing forward with the data strategy at the level of the EU.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, The other important legislative motion is the so-called Data Act, and that is going through the committee stages. And the Data Act, I think, is also a very important central part of the EU data strategy that will serve as a complement to the DGA.

SOUNDBITE (German), Angelika NIEBLER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Now if we can successfully implement a data strategy, then Europe will not only will be in the the vanguard of the New Economy 4.0, but I think it will be able to harness the huge potential of the data economy and make it available to societies. So that's all I wanted to say. Thank you very much for listening, and I'm here if you have any questions.