What is it about?

Generally, a data trustee facilitates the exchange between a data provider and a data user. Specifically, this could involve data exchange between companies (B2B), between companies and consumers (B2C), or between companies and government institutions (B2G). The data trustee is a specialised form of data intermediary and is particularly characterised by safeguarding the interests of all involved parties. This includes ensuring data protection compliance and guaranteeing the usability of data.

How can companies benefit?

According to the coalition agreement, data trustees are intended to help better exploit the potential of available data and strengthen data exchange. They could build trust among businesses in sharing data and reduce uncertainties regarding data usage. For many companies, this is a major obstacle: In a GCCI survey, more than half of 4,300 businesses cited legal uncertainties as a barrier to sharing data. Secure data exchange through a data trustee could enable companies to operate more efficiently or even open up new business fields.

An example

The operators of a map app want access to sensor and GPS data from cars. These data are held by the manufacturers of the vehicles. By analysing the movement of vehicles, the map operator aims to calculate real-time route durations. For this calculation, including the vehicle ID in the dataset is important. However, the manufacturer is uncertain whether releasing the vehicle ID complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A data trustee can facilitate the exchange by anonymising the data appropriately, making it GDPR-compliant while still allowing the map operator to calculate route durations.