What legal framework is needed? Valid and signed contracts are mandatory prerequisites for data exchange.
Within the context of DS4Skills, a skills-oriented data space requires a robust legal framework to guarantee that any data exchange is lawful, transparent and trusted, so a valid and signed contract is a mandatory prerequisite for any data exchange. In this sense, the architecture’s marketplace includes a core building block of “service contracts” that enables participants to automate the creation, negotiation, signing and verification of the Data Sharing Agreements, based on machine-readable policies that specify terms of use, obligations, restrictions and responsibilities. This service verifies the existence and validity of a contract before allowing any data access or exchange, ensuring that data flows are not executed without an applicable legal framework.
Apart from that, consent-management components are tied with these agreements so personal data exchange is only done when a contract and a valid consent exist, and governance and identity mechanisms that are both GDPR compliant and principles and requisites marked in the Data Governance Act and Data Act.
The contractual infrastructure is designed to be interoperable and traceable, enabling audit and verification of agreements, which strengthens trust, data sovereignty and legal validity in the exchanges done inside the data space.
