Progress of the Principles for a Data Economy

The Principles for a Data Economy have come a long way since the launch of the project. Please find an overview of the various drafts that have been discussed and amended within the competent bodies of the ELI as well as the ALI over the years below.

From the Feasability Study to Preliminary Draft No. 1

From October 2016 to February 2018 a Feasibility Study for the project was carried out, resulting, inter alia, in a 'Draft Framework for Discussion' prepared by Christiane Wendehorst, Neil Cohen and Steven O Weise and presented at the ELI Annual Conference 2017. Following the New York meetings on 15—16 February 2018, a ‘Pre-Draft’ dated 20 August 2018 was produced and presented at the ELI Annual Conference in Riga on 6 September and discussed in detail with ELI Advisors and the ELI Members Consultative Committee (MCC) on 8 September 2018. After the guidance received at this meeting, some further changes were made to the document before it was submitted as ‘Preliminary Draft No. 1’ to the ALI Advisors and Members Consultative Group (MCG) to be discussed in Philadelphia on 25 and 26 October 2018.

Preliminary Draft No. 2

The meetings in Philadelphia on 25 and 26 October 2018 resulted in a broad range of changes, including a re-ordering of the Chapters and Principles and a clearer focus on the transactional aspects, reflected in ‘Preliminary Draft No. 2’, dated 4 February 2019, and discussed at a joint meeting with the ALI and ELI Advisers and MCG/MCC members in Philadelphia on 22 February 2019.

Preliminary Draft No. 3

An interim ‘Preliminary Draft No. 2bis’ was discussed with ELI Advisers and MCC members in Vienna on 3 September 2019, resulting in ‘Preliminary Draft No. 3’, which was completed on 15 October and discussed with ALI Advisers and MCG members in Philadelphia on 31 October 2019. It took on board guidance received since the earlier 2019 meetings, including scrutiny undertaken by the Berlin based tech-company acs-plus GmbH, suggestions from the industry, and inspirations gained at a meeting hosted jointly by UNCITRAL and French governmental institutions in Paris on 15 March 2019 as well as at the 52nd Commission session of UNCITRAL in Vienna on 17 July 2019.

ALI Council Draft No. 1 and Tentative Draft No. 1

With the guidance received at the 31 October meeting, Part I and the first Chapters of Part II and Part III were submitted as ‘ALI Council Draft No. 1’ to the ALI Council for its meeting on 17 January 2020 and approved that day. Taking on board further guidance received by ALI and ELI members, by UNCITRAL Working Group No. IV on Electronic Commerce on 28 November 2019, by the participants of a conference hosted by the German Ministry of Justice on 12 and 13 December 2019 in Berlin, the ELI Council on 21 and 21 February 2020 and the participants of an expert workshop hosted by UNCITRAL and Unidroit on 10 and 11 March 2020 in Vienna the Reporters produced ‘Tentative Draft No. 1’, which was submitted electronically for consultation to the Members of the ALI, in lieu of submisstion for approval at the 2020 Annual Meeting (cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation). Tentative Draft No. 1 has been published by the American Law Institute and is available here.

Preliminary Draft No. 4

Tentative Draft No. 1 was further submitted to the members of the ELI Advisory Committee and the MCC for their remote meeting on 22 June 2020. The Guidance received both from the Members of the ALI and the Advisors and the MCC of the ELI was used by the Reporters to produce ‘Preliminary Draft No. 4', which was presented at the ELI Annual Conference 2020. Please find further information on this draft here.

ALI Council Draft No. 2

Preliminary Draft No. 4 was discussed at the ELI Annual Conference 2020 and at a meeting with Advisory Committees and MCG/MCC on 8 October 2020. With the feedback received, the Reporters finalised ALI Council Draft No. 2, which was approved at the ALI Council Meeting in January 2021.

Tentative Draft No. 2

After a meeting with ALI and ELI advisory bodies on 8 February 2021, the project was presented at the ELI Council meeting on 11 February 2021. The project team took on board feedback from experts on both sides of the Atlantic in their Tentative Draft No. 2, which was presented at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the ALI. The draft was approved by the ALI membership on 18 May 2021. Tentative Draft No. 2 is publicly available via this link.

Final Council Draft

The final draft of the Principles for a Data Economy (Final Council Draft) was unanimously approved by the ELI Council on 1 September 2021 and has also been approved by ELI Membership in September 2021. You can access a full text version of the Final Council Draft here. The Principles for a Data Economy were also presented at an international conference with representatives from institutions such as the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), the European Commission, UNIDROIT, the OECD, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) on 18th and 19th of October 2021. Please visit our conference website to access the conference programme and to watch the conference recordings.