The Council of the European Union agreed on a negotiating mandate on the proposed Data Governance Act on October 1, 2021. The proposal is a part of the 2020 European Strategy for Data, which is aimed to foster the availability of data for use in the economy by increasing trust in data intermediaries and by strengthening data-sharing mechanisms across the EU. The instrument specifically addresses the following situations:

1. making public sector data available for re-use, in situations where such data is subject to rights of others;
2. facilitating data
   sharing among businesses, against remuneration;
3. allowing personal data to be used with the help of a ‘personal data-sharing intermediary’, designed to help individuals
   exercise their rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); and
4. allowing data use on altruistic grounds.

The president of the council stated “Successful digital transformation and achieving our climate goals depend on data-driven innovation, which relies on the availability of data. It is therefore crucial to increase trust in data sharing,” Boštjan Koritnik, President of the Council.

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