SAP (SAPG.DE) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE) have joined U.S. tech titans in criticizing new EU legislation on smart gadgets and consumer goods data usage.
EU governments and parliamentarians are finalizing the Data Act, proposed by the European Commission last year before it becomes law.
German corporations believe a clause requiring companies to share data with third parties to provide aftermarket or other data-driven services might compromise trade secrets. At the same time, the U.S. says the bill is excessively restrictive.
“It risks undermining European competitiveness by mandating data sharing – including core know-how and design data – with not only the user, but also third parties,” the corporations said in a joint letter to Commission President Pres. The CEOs of Siemens Healthineers, Brainlab, DATEV, and lobbying organization DIGITALEUROPE signed the May 4 letter obtained by Reuters.
The letter urged for measures to allow corporations to decline data demands when trade secrets, cybersecurity, health, and safety are at stake and not to expand the area of devices covered by the Act.
The firms argued the law should retain contractual flexibility by allowing customers and providers to agree on contracts that work best for each business case for a provision that lets users transfer cloud providers.Ursula von der Leyen, Margrethe Vestager, and Thierry Breton.
“Effectively, this could mean that EU companies will have to disclose data to third-country competitors, notably those non-operating in Europe and against which the Data Act’s safeguards would be ineffective,” they stated.
The EU consumer and corporate data draft regulation is part of a package of laws to limit U.S. tech giants and assist the EU in achieving its digital and green goals.
