Following discussion with the Management Committee and the Board in October, EFB drafted a letter to DG CONNECT in response to the European Commission’s consultation on high-value data sets.

In their proposal, the European Commission intended to make specific types of data sets publicly available. This proposal included making public the data of business owners across Europe. EFB decided that this was unacceptable for the whole business community and gave an unfair advantage to many businesses who could exploit this data for their own benefit. EFB also see the proposal as an infringement on the rights of business owners, seeing as the proposal goes against data protection given to private individuals under the realms of GDPR legislation.

The letter sent from EFB highlighted these points and the fact that should this data become publicly availably it could endanger the lives of private individuals and their families if the data were to be used incorrectly. EFB have always been and remain committed to transparency within businesses, however in the letter, EFB argued that this legislation went too far, and that the proposal needs radically rethinking. Business owners are still private individuals and just because they own shares in businesses, they should not have these rights taken away.

In following the issue, EFB have participated in several webinars, with the same concerns being raised by other organisations and even some member states across the board.