NOTAS: | "The proposed Data Act (DA) is a key part of the Commission’s European strategy for data that aims for making the EU a leader in the data economy. The rules on data processing services in the proposal are intended to “unlock the EU cloud market” by facilitating customers’ ability to switch between data-processing services, and to create a seamless multi-vendor cloud environment by devising new interoperability regulation and standardisation regimes. The latest CERRE report, authored by CERRE Research Fellow Daniel Schnurr, focuses exclusively on the third part of the DA, more specifically on the data processing services that can be equated with cloud and edge services in all varieties from Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), over Platform-as-a-service (PaaS), to Software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. Whilst the author agrees in essence with the rules to promote and facilitate effective data portability, they also argue that the DA should be clearer regarding the goals it wants to achieve with the portability and interoperability obligations. Simplicity and clarity of the rules are of utmost importance for effectiveness, with a focus on strengthening data portability and facilitating the switching between providers. Moreover, the horizontal style of the DA may impose higher economic costs and regulatory burden than a more targeted, asymmetric regulatory approach would, and may affect smaller providers more severely than larger ones. Therefore, the report questions the wide scope of mandatory interoperability regulation, which should be tied to further justifications based on an assessment of specific market conditions and the effectiveness of data portability in the respective market." |