Data governance in the digital eRa: a difficult balance between security, transparency and solidarity needs

Abstract

The issue of data processing in the possession of the public administration is becoming increasingly important due to digital development, which has significantly increased the ability to collect, catalog and circulate data, both by the public administration and by private entities. So, the European legislator has recently developed a “European strategy for data”, adopting EU Reg. 2022/1925 on digital markets (so-called D.M.A.), aimed at regulating the relationships between companies that provide platform services and companies that provide digital services; EU Reg. 2022/2065 on the single market for digital services (so-called D.S.A.), aimed at ensuring the creation of a secure online environment; as well as EU Reg. 2022/868 on European Data Governance. The implementation of the European framework demonstrates that there is a need for a strengthening data governance and the management of related risks, as well as a further effort to ensure that the digital divide existing in Italy is overcome, which, in fact, compromises the effectiveness of administrative action and the provision of essential public services in contexts where the administrative legal relationship is dematerialized. Therefore, new scenarios of public intervention for the purposes of data processing and circulation are foreseen, with the consequent possible implementation of the administrative apparatus and strengthening of the exercise of administrative functions such as regulation, control and sanction, to guarantee a difficult balance between security, transparency and solidarity.