Data sharing and interoperability: Fostering innovation and competition through APIs

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have been identified by the European Commission as a key enabler of interoperability among private and public undertakings. Further, a systematic adoption of open and standardized APIs by firms and developers appears crucial to unlock competition and ultimately promote the flourishing of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) innovation. Analysing the main European regulatory initiatives which have so far surfaced in the realm of data governance (right to personal data portability, free flow of non-personal data, access to customer account data rule, re-use of government data), it seems that the EU legislator is not tackling the matter consistently. Indeed, on one side, all these initiatives share a strong reliance on APIs as a key facilitator to ensure a sound and effective data sharing ecosystem. However, on the other side, all these attempts are inherently different in terms of rationale, scope and implementation. The article stresses that data sharing via APIs requires a complex implementation process and sound standardization initiatives are essential for its success. Moreover, data pooling agreements need to be targeted in advance by competition law so to incentivize their adoption and leverage their pro-competitive potential. As for pricing and compensation issues, we point out that placing excessive reliance on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms might be counterproductive.