Article by Stefaan Verhulst: “The European Union’s pursuit to create a single data market has always been a balancing act between fostering public interest goals and safeguarding private enterprise. The Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854), which became applicable on September 12 2025, codified this tension, particularly in its Business-to-Government (B2G) provisions under Chapter V.
Initially, these provisions required data holders to share data with public sector bodies in cases of “exceptional need”, which was divided into two tracks: urgent Public Emergencies and non-emergency Public Interest Tasks.
However, the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus Package, published last month, has signaled a definitive pivot. The core message: B2G data sharing is now being refined and confined as a measure of last resort. This narrowing protects the private sector but simultaneously creates a critical challenge: without a designated data steward within both the public and private sector this restrictive, haphazard approach will fail to build the trusted, long-term data ecosystems necessary to address emergency and non-emergency, systemic societal challenges…(More)”.
