To ensure that the continent of Europe can benefit from new data-driven technologies, a call for the removal of barriers to the free flow of data both within and outside the 28-nation bloc was given by nearly half of the European Union’s member states on Monday.

The supporters of the free flow of data called to make sure regulation is not a barrier to the development of data-driven technologies and to avoid one-size-fits-all rules for online platforms such as Amazon and Facebook. This message was delivered in a In a letter to the European Commission and the Netherlands by the ministers from countries including Poland, Britain, Sweden and Finland. Netherlands holds the rotating EU presidency.

“It is vital for European competitiveness to take a positive approach to new advancements in digital technologies and business models. Europe can benefit significantly from new data-driven technologies if the right future-proof regulatory framework is established,” wrote the ministers from Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden.

A wide-ranging plan to knock down barriers in the online world to give Europe a better chance of competing with mainly U.S. tech giants in its Digital Single Market strategy was unveiled last year by the Commission.

The results of its inquiry into online platforms and where it thinks action may be needed would be presented by the Commission on Wednesday.

The Commission is likely to probe further into the terms of use of services such as Google’s Android and Apple Inc’s IoS mobile operating system and would tackle perceived problems in areas such as copyright and telecoms even though the Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip has ruled out a single regulation covering all online companies.

Data flows to the United States have endured a particularly tough ride since revelations of mass U.S. government snooping programs and the Commission’s strategy has faced accusations of protectionism – which the Commission says are unfounded.

Limits to cross-border data flows were opposed to by Ansip – who is overseeing the strategy.

“It’s extremely important to allow free data flows across the EU and we know that in some member states there are ideas to localize data inside of those beautiful countries. They are very popular but it’s a dead end,” he said in the European Parliament in April.

With the aim to counter data localization initiatives in countries such as Germany and France, the EU is expected to present a proposal enabling the free flow of data across the bloc later this year.

Investments in high-speed broadband is an area where the EU has been lagging behind the United States, Japan and South Korea and the letter also called for EU telecoms rules to be simplified so as to foster investments in that sector.

(Adapted from Reuters)

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