The chief executives of five leading EU tech groups have called for Brussels to amend proposed data-sharing legislation, saying the new rules would force them to give up trade secrets and hand a competitive advantage to China.
The intervention by the heads of SAP, Brainlab, Datev, Siemens and Siemens Healthineers — a separate company — marks the latest backlash from tech companies against the EU’s Data Act, part of a string of digital rules aimed at giving Europe a competitive advantage on data access.
The chief executives have written to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen asking for a pause to allow changes to the proposals, which spring from a sense among European regulators that the bloc lost out to the US in the past. The latest plans would oblige companies to share data with users, other businesses and governments.