ALI-ELI Principles for a Data Economy discussed with representatives of the European Commission

09.06.2020

On June 9 Christiane Wendehorst, European Reporter of the ALI-ELI Principles for a Data Economy project, Lord John Thomas, European Chair of the project together with Pascal Pichonnaz, Member of the ELI Advisory Committee of the project were invited to discuss the current draft of the ALI-ELI Principles with high-ranking representatives of the European Commission.

After Christiane Wendehorst and Lord John Thomas had already submitted their response to the public consultation on the data strategy of the European Commission, they were invited, together with Pascal Pichonnaz, to discuss the approach of the Principles in particular with regard to data transactions and co-generated data. From the European Commisison, Yvo Volman, Head of the 'Data Policy and Innovation' Unit, Team Leader Malte Beyer-Katzenberger, Legal and Policy Officer Jirka Pilar and Legal and Policy Officer Andrea Töth were present.

There was a lively discussion about how the Principles could contribute to the further development of the European data strategy and a possible Data Act 2021. The focus of the discussion was on rights in ’co-generated data‘, an innovative concept developed by the project Reporters that is gaining more and more recognition, and on data pools, data trusts and data marketplaces.

The current draft of the Principles (Tentative Draft No. 1) was recently sent out to members of the American Law Institute as well as to members of the ELI Advisory Committee and MCC for comments. The input received from the representatives of the European Commission and the ALI and ELI members will be used in particular for the discussion of the Principles at the ELI project meeting on 22 June and will form the basis for Preliminary Draft No 4 which is currently being prepared by the project reporters.