When EU negotiators this week reached a political agreement on free flow of non-personal data they took on board recommendations from an expert briefing of IViR’s Kristina Irion.

Mid-September last year the European Commission presented a proposal for a new regulation on the free flow of non-personal data in the European Union. The free movement of data in the digital single market has been called the fifth freedom complementing the existing freedoms on movement of goods, services, capital and people. The proposed regulation seeks to remove unjustified data localisation measures that fall in the scope of EU law. Often this will amount to cutting bureaucratic red tape in the private sector, such as for example removing a domestic obligation to maintain a full copy of bookkeeping on premise of an organisation. In her briefing Dr. Irion concludes that the fifth freedom would have a moderate impact for the European data economy. She offers concrete guidance to the EU legislator how to improve the draft regulation in order to preserve the freedom of contract. The EU legislator for example takes on board that the new Regulation shall in no way limit the freedom of businesses to make contractual agreements specifying where data is to be located.