The European Parliament has approved rules to ensure the free flow of non-personal data in the EU in a move expected to help save EU businesses billions of euros every year.The regulation aims to remove geographical restrictions on the storage and processing of non-personal data. It will allow businesses and public administrations to store and process non-personal data anywhere in the EU.
Currently EU countries can oblige public and private public organisations to locate the storage or processing of data within national borders and in many cases do so.
The current restrictions and legal uncertainty on moving data (for example by switching providers) cost EU businesses billions of euros every year. In the future restrictions will only be justified on the basis of public security. Data portability between cloud service providers should ensure real competition across borders with benefits for businesses.
The MEP in charge of steering the new legislation through Parliament is Anna Maria Corazza Bildt described the regulation as a game changer for the digital economy in Europe, potentially providing enormous efficiency gains for both companies and public authorities.
“It will pave the way for artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data analysis,” the Swedish EPP member added.
Corazza Bildt was clear about her aims: “It is a major step towards reducing data protectionism which is threatening the digital economy. My goal is to have rules that are clear, net neutral and future-proof.”
These rules will only apply to non-personal data, so will not contain any information that could lead to a person being identified. The regulation is therefore complementary to the General Data Protection Regulation, applicable since 25 May 2018.
Edited by Bouli Hadjioannou
