In an effort to avoid EU firms and citizens relying on data from Asian and U.S rivals, the European Commission is proposing new rules to allow sharing of public and personal data with businesses and research organisations. The European Union executive hopes that this could lead to improvements ranging from personalised health treatments, to better tackling climate change or developing precision farming techniques. "Data should be accessible and the sharing of such data should be secure," European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager told a news briefing on Wednesday.