by
Catherine Stupp
Tech companies want the European Commission to propose new legislation in autumn that they hope will bring down data storage costs in some countries. But rumoured changes have worried firms that France could pressure the executive to weaken the rules.
A vocal group of firms have pushed the Commission to introduce a law that would make any national laws requiring storage within one EU country illegal unless the restriction is grounded in security concerns.
Now some companies are concerned that the executive’s proposal, expected in September, will be watered down by loopholes. Several sources close to the drafting process said the Commission is likely to take on a French proposal to include three exceptions guaranteeing authorities’ access to data, a so-called portability right for users to move their data between storage centres and EU-wide security standards for data facilities.
France is the only EU country that outright opposes the legislation, which is now colloquially known as the “free flow of data” proposal. Twice over the last year, more than a dozen countries signed letters to the Commission asking for an EU-wide ban on data localisation laws. Some member states are not sure a law is necessary but haven’t lobbied against it. In May, Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip confirmed that he will draft a bill by autumn.
By the Juncker Commission’s own estimates, data contributed €272 billion, 1.9% of GDP, to the EU’s economy in 2015. A Commission document from January predicted that “if policy and legal framework conditions for the data economy are put in place in time”, that figure could rise to €643 billion by 2020. The document also mentioned that the executive is looking into data access and portability issues.
*first published in EURACTIV.com
By: N. Peter Kramer
