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The European Data Economy initiative is built on the belief that the current regulatory environment is not capable of unleashing the full potential of the data-driven economy. The initiative focuses on “non-personal data” as a way to complement data protection rules that regulate the processing of personal data. The article argues that the notion of non-personal data as a starting-point for new data innovation policies is counterproductive for three fundamental reasons: datasets are often mixed and the boundaries of personal data are too fluid to act as regulatory anchor; having two separate regimes applicable to mixed datasets might lead to strategic behaviour of firms exploiting this regulatory rivalry; and data has economic value irrespective of its legal classification, and there is no evidence that an elusive zone of non-personal data is more essential as innovation input. We conclude that a holistic approach to “data” as such, which a priori incorporates data protection considerations in its design, is more likely to deliver a successful innovation policy.
