Bottom line: The EU is collecting feedback on data access dependencies, transfer barriers, and risks from third-party access to sensitive data to strengthen its data sovereignty.
The European Commission has opened a targeted consultation to investigate challenges regarding data sovereignty and cross-border data flows for European organizations. The consultation runs until 8 September 2026.
The consultation, launched on 8 July 2026, is addressed to stakeholders across the data value chain in all sectors. It aims to capture data dependencies of European organizations, barriers to accessing data in third countries, transfer obstacles, and risks arising from third-country access to sensitive data.
The initiative follows the EU’s data strategy from November 2025, which identified data sovereignty as essential, as well as the European tech sovereignty package with measures on semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cloud and open source. Together, these measures are intended to strengthen Europe’s position as an AI continent and build digital autonomy.
The EU framework for data flows has so far promoted free data movement with trust mechanisms. However, unjustified data localization requirements, discriminatory rules, and data flows to third countries jeopardize this sovereignty. The Commission is working towards fair competition, security and consistency with European values, while remaining open to trusted partners.
Source: digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu · Published 8 July 2026
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