A more inclusive Europe through personal data sovereignty in cross-border digital public services

Cross-border services require EU Member states to share data and the uptake of these services entails users to share their data safely and securely. In addition to being technically assured and having cross-border digital services that are safely designed, people should also know what is done with their personal data, have the possibility to disable permissions, and have only the minimal data requested necessary for a specific use, and last but not least, their data should only be used as originally intended. In other words, cross-border services must deliver data sovereignty to motivate EU citizens to use cross-border digital public services often. However, the EU needs to overcome many challenges, especially when it comes to technical interoperability between member states to reach the desired state of data sovereignty in cross-border services.

The following research presents a technical approach to personal data in the context of cross-border services. This approach uses principles of decentralisation and data minimisation by design, as well as processes for data consent management, all of which aim to position people with greater agency and control over their own personal data and digital identity. This research presents a personal data governance framework, which is a minimum viable prototype for allowing users to achieve data sovereignty in cross-border services. To achieve this, an analysis of existing reference technologies was conducted alongside a study of the European context. Moreover, workshops in three European Union EU countries took place with relevant stakeholders as well as user interviews and finally, usability tests on the prototype were organised. The research provides insights into the potential of a data governance framework for enhancing the quality of cross-border digital services and informs the development of practical and effective data governance policies and practices for cross-border digital public services in the EU.