Public consultation: Strategy for a European Data Union

End of consultation period:

18 July 2025, 00:00 CET   

Context:

The scarcity of major players in the technology sector and ongoing geopolitical tensions underscore the need for data access to ensure the competitiveness and security of the Union’s economy. The Strategy follows on from the actions set out in the 2020 Data Strategy and builds on the analyses presented in the Draghi Report and the Letta Report.

• EU Data Strategy 2020: established common European data spaces, new rights, and rules on access to and sharing of industrial data (Data Governance Regulation) and health data (European Health Data Space Regulation).
• Draghi Report: highlights the need to promote cross-sectoral coordination and the sharing of large datasets.
• Letta report: emphasises the critical importance of data in accelerating the integration of artificial intelligence into European industry.

The Strategy aims to:

• Stimulate investments in data technologies by providing a one-stop shop for accessing additional data sources, for example.
• Enable the creation of reliable, non-discriminatory and secure European digital products.
• Simplify and standardise data sharing policies, in particular:

        i) Encourage the sharing of industrial data

        ii) Make under-represented language data accessible

        iii) Streamline data sharing between sectors, which are currently subject to complex general and sector-specific legislation

• Promote digitisation processes, including by providing access to talent, infrastructure and capital.
• Develop an international data strategy in order to safeguard and standardise data imports and exports.

Who can participate?

• The general public
• Public sector data suppliers
• Technology suppliers and professional users
• National competent authorities
• Data processing and data intermediation service providers
• Data providers
• Industry, SMEs, and companies involved in the supply, use and processing of data
• Industrial associations, international organisations operating in the field of interest, companies providing generative AI and suppliers of synthesis solutions
• Trade associations
• Researchers, research institutions, experts, reflection groups and universities
• Platform representatives
• Civil society organisations and consumer associations

Timeline:

18 July 2025, 00:00 CET.

The consultation is available here.