Position Paper on the Data Act

key messages

• Eurelectric welcomes the proposal for a Regulation on harmonised rules on fair access to and the use of data (henceforth ‘the Data Act’) and its objective of fulfilling the ambition of the Data Strategy: making the EU a leader in the data-driven economy.
• Eurelectric strongly believes that data and digital solutions are key enablers in the energy sector transformation needed for Europe’s climate ambitions. Data availability contributes to further energy efficiency, renewables integration, grid resilience, and innovative businesses such as smart mobility. However, the scope of obligations must be carefully assessed to adapt to all situations and ensure a fair and seamless data flow, while providing legal certainty and visibility to all actors of the ecosystem.
• Sector-specific regulation, such as the soon to be finalised Implementing Acts on interoperability and data access – set by Articles 23 & 24 of the Electricity Directive (EU) 2019/944 – shall take precedence over the Data Act to ensure an interoperable and harmonised framework within the energy sector.
• To enhance Europe’s energy and digital sovereignty, the proposal should lay out a framework designed to keep pace with technological developments and ensure coherence of the Data Act provisions with enacted, as well as foreseen, sectoral legislation on data sharing. Additionally, Eurelectric proposes the following recommendations to unlock the potential of data-driven innovation, encourage customers to make greater use of services, and allow the power industry to develop disruptive digital products and services:

1. More clarity is needed to facilitate data exchanges between businesses, customers and public authorities
2. Data-sharing agreements must remain open and commercially viable
3. Data portability and interoperability must be facilitated through viable regulatory harmonisation