Data altruism organisations (DAOs)

General information

Recognised data altruism organisations operate on a not-for-profit basis and enable data holders to donate data in order to support the pursuit of objectives of common interest (e.g. healthcare, combating climate change, mobility, improving official statistics, improving public services, government decision-making or scientific research). Recognised data altruism organisations are subject to specific requirements to safeguard the rights and interests of data subjects and data holders with regard to their data.

A data altruism organisation that has its main establishment in Austria may submit an application for registration in the national public register of recognised data altruism organisations to the competent authority. An entity that is not established in the European Union (EU) may register with the competent authority through a legal representative in Austria.

Austrian register and EU register of recognised data altruism organisations

The competent authority keeps and regularly updates a public national register of recognised data altruism organisations (article 17 paragraph 1 of the Data Governance Act).

The European Commission maintains, for information purposes, an EU register of recognised data altruism organisations (→ EU) that provide their services in the EU.

Recognised data altruism organisations must clearly display the EU-wide logo (→ EU) on all online and offline publications so that they are easily identifiable.

Requirements for registration

In order to qualify for registration in the Austrian public register of recognised data altruism organisations an entity must:

• carry out data altruism activities;
• be a legal person established pursuant to Austrian law to meet objectives of general interest as provided for in Austrian law, where applicable;
• operate on a not-for-profit basis and be legally independent from any entity that operates on a for-profit basis;
• carry out its data altruism activities through a structure that is functionally separate from its other activities;
• comply with the rulebook referred to in article 22 paragraph 1 of the Data Governance Act.

To register as a data altruism organisation in Austria, the following additional requirements apply:

• The main establishment of the data altruism organisation is in Austria (article 19 paragraph 1 of the Data Governance Act).
• Alternatively: A data altruism organisation that has establishments in more than one EU Member State may submit an application for registration in the public national register of recognised data altruism organisations in the Member State in which it has its main establishment (article 19 paragraph 2 of the Data Governance Act).
• Alternatively: An entity that meets the general requirements for registration but is not established in the EU must designate a legal representative in one of the EU Member States in which the data altruism services are offered (article 19 paragraph 3 of the Data Governance Act). The entity will be deemed to be under the jurisdiction of the Member State in which the legal representative is located. In this case, the legal representative is under the jurisdiction of Austria.

Types of procedure

There are three different types of procedure (forms):

• Registration of a data altruism organisation in the Austrian register
• Changes to the existing information of a data altruism organisation
• Cessation of activity of a data altruism organisation

Further links

European strategy for data (→ EU)

Legal bases

Regulation (EU) 2022/868 on European data governance and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 (Data Governance Act)