There is a chicken and egg dilemma on the subject of data sharing. Should data sharing be made obligatory because data ‘owners’ are not willing to provide data? Or, are data ‘owners’ more than willing to provide data but is there no trust in what is done with that data and they are critical whether any created value will be flowing back to the sector? These are the two simplified opinions.

 

DG JUST of the European Commission believes in clear legal rules and a stronger, harder approach. They launched the General Data Protection regulation making obligatory rules on the protection of personal data. This includes e.g. also position data. Therefore GPS linked agronomic data is also subject to the GDPR.  But there is much more agronomic data or machine data that is non-personal and for which the rights are not clear. DG CNECT, the Directorate General of the European Commission in charge of IoT, DEI (Digital European Innovation), quickly understood that for B2B the topic is complex and new. There is a delicate balance between stakeholders’ interests and many different sectors are involved. Possibly, different approaches would be necessary. Therefore they ordered a study on B2B data sharing in Europe. At a workshop on 12 January the results were shown and a discussion took place.

The preliminary results of the study show that there is a general consensus that data sharing is favourable. On the other hand there is also strong agreement on the protection of certain data.

A majority indicated to face obstacles with technology as a main concern. Also uncertainty on ownership is high on the list. Success factors to deal with these obstacles included building trust, creating partnerships, simplicity and user friendliness, a defined legal framework and understanding the data demand. But technical advances were not mentionned.

During the discussions a majority of stakeholders favoured sector specific voluntary approaches. The work on the Code of conduct in agriculture on data sharing, involving also CEMA, was mentioned as a good example on how a sector proactively decides on voluntary set of principles.

Minor points were the intrusion by the automotive aftermarket claiming car manufacturers to close their OBD ports and therefore access to data. On the sector agriculture the consultant mentioned the case of one farmer who claimed that machine manufacturers are not willing to share data.

The Commission summarised and expressed their support for guidance on B2B data sharing. However with a preference towards soft law.