EU Commission 2020 work program insists on data, digital and SMEs

The European Commission has published its 2020 work program on 29th January 2020 and it clearly puts the focus on the EU data environment, on digital and on better enabling SME transformation and growth in the Internal Market.

The work program, which can be accessed here, also contains a number of annexes listing the current and planned regulatory initiatives for 2020 but also the ones that the EU Commission proposes to repeal to avoid double legislation and to strive for simplification.

Among the new EU initiatives, some are of particular importance for local search and digital players such as:

• The Digital Services Act , planned for Q4 2020
• The Action Plan on FinTech including a Strategy on an Integrated EU Payments Market, planned for Q3 2020
• The White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, planned Q1 2020
• The European Strategy for Data, also planned for Q1 2020: this one will be of great importance for members as it outlines the global EU approach to data management, policies, and data sharing and access.

The Commission also plans to re-evaluate some existing initiatives such as:

• Evaluation of the ‘SME Definition’, to see if it needs revision
• the Application of Regulation (EU) 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS Regulation)
• Commission Proposal to review Directive 2008/48/EC on credit agreement for consumers.