In order to increase trust in such data intermediation services, in particular related to the use of data and compliance with the conditions imposed by data subjects and data holders, it is necessary to create a Union-level regulatory framework which establishes highly harmonised requirements related to the trustworthy provision of such data intermediation services, and which is implemented by the competent authorities. That framework will contribute to ensuring that data subjects and data holders, as well as data users, have better control over access to and use of their data, in accordance with Union law. The Commission could also encourage and facilitate the development of codes of conduct at Union level, involving relevant stakeholders, in particular on interoperability. Both in situations where data sharing occurs in a business-to-business context and where it occurs in a business-to-consumer context, data intermediation services providers should offer a novel, ‘European’ way of data governance, by providing a separation in the data economy between data provision, intermediation and use. Data intermediation services providers could also make available specific technical infrastructure for the interconnection of data subjects and data holders with data users. In that regard, it is of particular importance to shape that infrastructure in such a way that SMEs and start-ups encounter no technical or other barriers to their participation in the data economy.
Data intermediation services providers should be allowed to offer additional specific tools and services to data holders or data subjects for the specific purpose of facilitating the exchange of data, such as temporary storage, curation, conversion, anonymisation and pseudonymisation. Those tools and services should be used only at the explicit request or approval of the data holder or data subject and third-party tools offered in that context should not use data for other purposes. At the same time, data intermediation services providers should be allowed to adapt the data exchanged in order to improve the usability of the data by the data user where the data user so desires, or to improve interoperability by, for example, converting the data into specific formats.