Overlooking digital collusion risks in the EU's agenda for a single European data space(s)

The EU aims to drive the data and platform economy by establishing a single European Data Space(s) vision, envisioning it as a catalyst for innovation, novel services, enhanced competition and consumer welfare. It involves implementing existing and forthcoming horizontal and sectorial data-sharing laws to overcome technical, legal, and ethical barriers to (personal and non-personal) data access and achieve specific data-driven policy targets. The initial spaces will cover nine economic sectors, few established and others in development. The study assesses the possible oversight of competition law collusion concerns in these initiatives, using the example of the EU Mobility Data Space (EMDS). By employing competition law qualitative doctrinal methods, it emphasizes the risks of digital collusion within these EU-wide open data frameworks, and it indicates that they could severely harm one or several parameters of competition. It concludes by offering policy recommendations to prevent or minimize collusion risks for the EMDS and suggests further research in other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]