Enhancing Systematic Interoperability: Convergences and Mismatches between Web 3.0 and the EU Data Act

TL;DR

This paper compares Web 3.0's technological interoperability with the EU Data Act's legal framework, identifying mismatches and proposing interdisciplinary solutions to improve systematic interoperability across data, systems, and applications.

Contribution

It provides an interdisciplinary analysis of interoperability in Web 3.0 and the EU Data Act, highlighting gaps and suggesting broadening legal scope and standardization mechanisms.

Findings

Web 3.0's interoperability includes data, systems, and applications.

The Data Act focuses only on data interoperability.

Narrow legal scope may hinder full system and application integration.

Abstract

Interoperability is increasingly recognised as a foundational principle for fostering innovation, competition, and user autonomy in the evolving digital ecosystem. Existing research on interoperability predominantly focuses either on technological interoperability itself or on the legal regulations concerning interoperability, with insufficient exploration of their interdisciplinary intersection. This paper compares the technological interoperability in Web 3.0 with the theoretical framework of legal interoperability established by the EU Data Act, analysing the areas of convergence and mismatch. The goal is to align technical interoperability with legal concepts of interoperability, thereby enhancing the practical implementation of systematic interoperability in the next generation of the Web. This study finds that, firstly, Web 3.0's concept of interoperability spans data, systems, and applications, while the Data Act focuses solely on data. This narrow scope risks creating a fragmented ecosystem, where data exchange is possible, but full integration of systems and applications is hindered, leading to inefficiencies, and obstructing seamless data flow across platforms. Secondly, while Web 3.0 technically seeks to achieve interoperability through the integration of entire systems and decentralised applications, the compliance with Data Act might negatively limit such system and application interoperability through its data interoperability provisions. This paper suggests interdisciplinary recommendations to enhance the implementation and enforcement of interoperability. On one hand, the Data Act should broaden its concept of interoperability to encompass both the systems and applications layers. On the other hand, it is advisable to introduce provisions for standardised protocols through soft law mechanisms to address legal shortcomings and keep pace with technological advancements.