Data intermediaries : Agdatahub, Hub One DataTrust and MiTrust officially entered on the European register

The Association pour l’Intermédiation de Données (AID) is delighted that Arcep (French regulatory authority for electronic communications, post and press distribution) has been designated as the regulatory authority for data intermediaries in France, and that three of its members have been officially entered on the European Register of Data Intermediation Services.

Trusted third party status, regulated by Arcep

The SREN Act aims to strengthen trust and competition in the data economy. It includes measures designed, for example, to restore commercial fairness in the cloud market and adapt French law to apply recent European regulations on data, both personal and otherwise, such as the Data Governance Act (DGA).
This text institutionalises the status of data intermediary at European Union level: a trusted third party who facilitates and secures the exchange of data between its holders and users.
In France, Arcep (Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques, des postes et de la distribution de la presse) has been designated as the authority that will control and monitor compliance with the requirements set out in the DGA, enabling structures that notify themselves to be entered in the European Register of Data Intermediation Services. Arcep will also promote France’s position in the field of data intermediation services at European and international level.

Our members, the first to be notified as data intermediaries in France

The second reason for satisfaction for AID is the registration of three of its members in the European Register of Data Intermediation Services.

« The recent notification of Agdatahub, for the agricultural and agri-food sectors, Hub One DataTrust, for the airport sector, and MiTrust, for authentic personal data, puts France firmly on the central register of data intermediaries in a variety of sectors. The next step is to label our members as an additional guarantee of confidence that they comply with the regulatory criteria defined by the DGA. »

Sébastien Picardat, Chairman of AID

AID, for its part, continues to raise questions about the application of the new regulations with public authorities AID continues to raise questions about the application of the new regulations with the public authorities, to capitalise on the expertise of its members and to promote the role of data intermediaries in the data industry, notably through its publications on social networks, under the #dataintermediation banner. The association is also preparing its first conference, to be held on 24 October in Issy-les-Moulineaux.

Faced with the rapid and global emergence of Generative AI, AID (Association pour l’Intermédiation de Données) affirms the importance of data intermediaries in terms of the ethical aspect of exchanges, respect for the rights of data holders and compliance with competition law. This position is at the heart of its contribution to the public consultation on “Generative AI” launched by the French Competition Authority between February and March 2024.

Data intermediaries: a response to the risks of distortion of competition

As trusted third parties, Data Intermediation Service Providers (DISPs) respond to the risks of an asymmetrical market: that of data holders (of which VSEs/SMEs are part) faced with a very limited number of generative Artificial Intelligence publishers, constituting a de facto oligopoly.
Providing a structural and technological response to the risks, for example, of locking access to data or its lack of portability, PSIDs orchestrate secure data transactions that are transparent from a legal, commercial and technical point of view.

“Data intermediation providers have an essential role to play in establishing a balanced data market between data holders and data users, at a time when trust and transparency are key elements in developing this market in compliance with European regulations and values”

Sébastien Picardat, Chairman of AID and CEO of Agdatahub

SREN law: data intermediaries, a regulated status

The status of data intermediary is a recent role, regulated in France by Arcep (according to the Securing and Regulating the Digital Space law adopted by the joint committee on 26 March 2024) and stemming from European regulatory developments (Data Governance Act and IA Act). This role guarantees the free circulation of data within the European Union, while respecting the rights of data holders and competition law between data holders and users.

While AID recognises that, in order to function, the Generative AI sector needs mass access to personal and non-personal data, this can only be done, in regulatory and structural terms, through a secure framework in which data holders agree to make their data accessible to Generative AI publishers (as users). This is the raison d’être of Data Intermediation Service Providers (DISPs).

AID, Association pour l’intermédiation des données (Association for Data Intermediation), notes a legal limbo regarding the application of the DGA (Data Governance Act), the European regulation on data governance, which comes into force in the European Union on September 24, 2023. AID is ready to provide its expertise on these crucial issues.

At a time when trust and transparency are key to developing a data market that respects European regulations and values, particularly in terms of controlling their uses, Data Intermediation Service Providers (DISPs) and their users, grouped within AID, wish to draw the attention of public authorities to the conditions of application of the DGA for existing players.

“Many questions arise for the members of our association“, says Sébastien Picardat, President of AID and CEO of Agdatahub, “the current situation deserves clarification before the joint commission on the SREN bill is held“.

The answers to be provided and the positions to be taken by the French and European authorities are just as necessary for the members of AID as for the other existing players. Without clarification, some of these players could be tempted to take the plunge for lack of precise knowledge of the new regulation’s requirements.

The first question is a key one, as it has a number of corollaries: does the DGA introduce a compulsory regime for any company providing intermediation services as defined?

If the answer is yes, are data holders or users obliged to use PSIDs that comply with the DGA’s obligations?

These initial questions, which concern the scope of the DGA and data users and holders, are far from trivial. They lead to further questions about sharing mechanisms, labeling criteria, sanctions and information from competent authorities to stakeholders, as well as interoperability and the digital commons.

2024 is a key year for developing and strengthening the confidence of economic players and citizens in data sharing and intermediation. In fact, the European vision, which has been largely supported by France from the outset of the regulatory and legal reflections, could be implemented right now, even as the first data intermediaries are being registered by other member states within the EU register of data intermediation services.

About AID, Association for Data Intermediation

AID was created in November 2023 by Agdatahub, Apidae Tourisme, Dawex, Hub One DataTrust, Orange Business and Promotheus-X, with the support of Banque des Territoires. In particular, it aims to define the general policy and strategy for all cross-functional issues relating to intermediation and data space activities. To this end, its mission is to represent Data Intermediation Service Providers (DISPs), as well as the users of these data intermediation services, in dealings with public authorities in France and Europe.

AID, Association pour l’intermédiation des données (Association for Data Intermediation), has appointed its Board of Directors and elected its first Executive Committee at the close of its Constitutive General Meeting on November 28, 2023.

The purpose of governance, as set out in the association’s articles of association, is to enable AID to carry out its missions, in particular that of defining strategy and contributing to political choices in activities relating to data intermediation and data spaces.

The Board of Directors is made up of :

• Two directors representing data intermediation service providers: Agdatahub, Hub One DataTrust
• Two representing data users / holders: APIDAE, Orange Business
• Two censors representing technology partners: Orange Business, Dawex
• One censor representing associate members: Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations

At its first meeting on November 28, 2023, the members of the AID Board of Directors elected their officers:

• Sébastien Picardat, representing Agdatahub in his capacity as Managing Director, was elected Chairman of AID.
• Jean-Sébastien Mackiewicz, representing Hub One DataTrust in his capacity as Executive General Manager, was elected Vice-Chairman of AID and Chairman of the Digital Uses Commission.
• Frédéric Blavoux, representing Apidae Tourisme in his capacity as Chairman and CEO, was elected Treasurer of AID.

During the event “Plateformes d’intermédiation de la donnée : de l’expérimentation à l’industrialisation” (Data intermediation platforms: from experimentation to industrialization) organized in november by the Banque des Territoires, Agdatahub, APIDAE, Dawex, Hub One DataTrust, Orange Business and Prometheus-X announced the creation of the Association pour l’Intermédiation de Données (AID), as founding members. Banque des Territoires will also join the association as an associate member.

A strong ambition and balanced representation of all players

As indicated by the European Commission in its Data Governance Act (DGA), the economic and societal potential of data is enormous. It can help develop new products and services based on new technologies, contribute to economic development and the attractiveness of regions, enable more efficient management of public services, and provide tools for tackling societal and environmental challenges. However, there is still considerable room for progress, due to a lack of trust, transparency and security when it comes to sharing, exchanging, reusing and collecting data.

That’s why, as the professional association for players in the data intermediation business in France (a regulated activity under the terms of the Data Governance Act), the AID association aims to contribute fully to consultations upstream of public policies promoting data transactions within a system based on trust, transparency and security.

To this end, the association is organized around 4 colleges of members:

• data intermediation service providers, including Agdatahub and Hub One DataTrust,
• operators using data intermediation services (data holders and/or users), including APIDAE and Orange Business,
• the technological providers necessary to operate the data intermediation platforms, with Dawex and Orange Business,
• associate members, with Banque des Territoires.

A clear vision of the role of data intermediation in value chains

The action plan drawn up by the various colleges is designed to lay the foundations for the long-term organization of the association’s work. At the heart of this work is an observatory of best practices for the benefit of all members.

“Our shared aim is to develop trust, transparency and security in data transactions, based on strong guarantees,” explains Sébastien Picardat, Chairman of AID and Managing Director of Agdatahub. “Far from starting from a blank sheet of paper, we are building on the best practices already in place in each of the association’s members, to share them, and even strengthen and improve them where possible.“

Initially, this work will focus on 3 areas, drawing on expertise from outside the association:

• Legal: to arrive at a shared reading between the State, regulators and professionals on the conditions of application of the DGA regulation and the SREN law for data intermediation as well as data holders/users, in liaison with the Direction Générale des Entreprises of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and ARCEP.

• Economic: to document possible business models for data intermediaries and data holders/users in the context of data spaces.

• Technical: to identify the formats and interoperability work being carried out in the various data spaces, to organize the follow-up of this work and associated best practices, and to invest in those of greatest interest to the association’s members, in conjunction with the expertise of the Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC), Gaia-X and the Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT).

In addition to exchanges between members, AID intends to lay the foundations for a dialogue with all professional players in data intermediation at European level, with a view to promoting the construction of a single European data market.

“This future dialogue, which we hope to conduct with sister associations from other European countries, seems to us necessary to guarantee a strong voice for community players in the face of a constantly evolving world. In fact, AID’s vision of data intermediation is based first and foremost on the ethical use of data through the expression of informed authorizations by each of the players involved,” concludes Sébastien Picardat.