Data Governance Act (DGA)

The DGA between undermining the GDPR and building a Data Commons

Compared to the DSA and the DMA, the DGA has received relatively little attention, both from the digital rights community and, seemingly, from industry stakeholders. So far, the discussion in the EP – where the Internal Market ( IMCO), legal affafirs (JURI) and civil liberties (LIBE) committees have issued opinions – has revealed relatively few clear faultlines.

In the shadow of the discussions about the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Data Governance Act (DGA) is slowly but steadily making its way through the European Union (EU) legislative process. Since the unveiling of the proposal by the European Commission in November 2020, the European Parliament’s (EP) Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee – with MEP Angela Niebler as rapporteur, would pave the way for the adoption of the EP’s negotiating position. 

Compared to the DSA and the DMA, the DGA has received relatively little attention, both from the digital rights community and, seemingly, from industry stakeholders. So far, the discussion in the EP – where the Internal Market (IMCO), legal affafirs (JURI) and civil liberties (LIBE) committees have issued opinions – has revealed relatively few clear fault lines. 

Why is the DGA important? What is the connection with the GDPR?

From a digital rights perspective, the main issue at stake is the relationship between the proposed DGA and the existing acquis dealing with data protection – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the ePrivacy Directive. While the existing regulatory framework rests on a data governance model rooted in privacy and data protection principles to protect people’s fundamental rights, the DGA’s primary objective is to foster the emergence of a European data-driven economy. 

To avoid conflicting provisions with data protection law, EDRi and Access Now have called for the removal of personal data from the scope of the DGA. These demands have not been answered by the EP, although the amendments contained in the opinion adopted by the LIBE committee increase privacy and data protection safeguards compared to the original proposal. 

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