One year ago, the Data Governance Act (DGA) entered into application. The European Commission has now published a practical guide to help stakeholders implement it.
The Data Governance Act is a pillar of the European strategy for data. It aims specifically to increase voluntary data sharing for the benefit of businesses and citizens by making it easier to share data in a trusted and secure manner.

Together with the other measures under the data strategy, the DGA aims to help unlock the full potential of data. This is meant to serve as a powerful engine for innovation and job creation. At the same time, data is a critical resource for the growth of all organisations, especially start-ups and SMEs. The ultimate objective is to create a European single market for data, in which data can flow seamlessly across sectors and borders.

Any interested users (including citizens, entrepreneurs and researchers) can search for and find information on protected data that cannot be made available under the general open data rules (e.g. health or mobility data) through the European register for protected data held by the public sector.

The new guidance document is an in-depth guide to help stakeholders understand the provisions and reap the benefits of the DGA. It is not a legally binding document nor does it represent the formal position of the Commission. Instead, it is intended to help industry and Member States, and any other interested stakeholders, to better understand the various measures established under the Data Governance Act.

The guide is subject to periodic updates, notably to take on board lessons learnt as experience in implementing the DGA builds up over time.

The guidance can be found for download on the dedicated Commission website. 

For stakeholders intending to submit data-related proposals to EU funding programmes such as Horizon Europe or Digital Europe, it is recommended to be aware of the provisions of relevant EU legislation and refer to them in the application, if relevant for the proposal.