Organisational Form & Governance Authority
In the DSSC Blueprint 3.0, this building block is known as 'Organisational Form & Governance Authority'. The complete DSSC description is available here.
Establishing how your data space is structured, governed, and held accountable is one of the first and most critical design decisions. In alignment with the DSSC Blueprint 3.0, this building block focuses on three main aspects:
The organisational/legal form your data space will take (e.g. foundation, consortium, association),
The creation of a governance framework that outlines shared internal rules and third-party-facing policies,
The establishment of a governance authority responsible for managing, enforcing, and evolving this framework.
Together, these elements provide the foundation for transparency, accountability, and trust across the data space.
A governance authority should represent the interests of participants and take on key responsibilities, such as:
Setting rules and policies for how the data space operates,
Ensuring alignment with both internal agreements and external regulations,
Supporting conflict resolution, continuous improvement, and long-term accountability.
Importantly, these decisions should be made early in the lifecycle of the data space, ideally before operations begin, while still leaving room for evolution as the space grows or federates.
Governance Approach
From an iSHARE perspective, this building block is where the Trust Framework’s value becomes tangible. iSHARE provides a ready-to-use model for data space governance that aligns with DSSC principles while introducing a federated and role-based structure. This model ensures that responsibilities are clearly distributed, collaboration remains inclusive, and governance processes are transparent and scalable.
To maintain coherence and alignment across various domains and operational levels, iSHARE distinguishes four complementary governance layers. Together, these layers form a federated governance model that supports interoperability, trust, and accountability across the entire data space ecosystem.
1. Cross-Data Space Governance Layer
This layer addresses the governance of the broader community of practice and related digital infrastructures surrounding the ecosystem. Its focus is to foster collaboration, align on shared goals, and develop a common understanding of terms, principles, and technical concepts, thereby ensuring interoperability across interconnected data spaces and sectors.
2. Data Space Governance Layer
This layer defines how a specific data space is structured, managed, and operated. It sets the foundation for enabling trusted data transactions and innovation, and includes entities such as the Governance Authority (or the Data Space Governance Body*), the Operating Entity, and one or more Legal Data Intermediaries. Together, they ensure compliance with governance rules, operational efficiency, and continuous evolution.
In practice, the Governance Framework can be understood as consisting of two main elements. First, the rules that define the internal roles, responsibilities, and procedures of the data space itself. Second, by rules that directly shape how the data space relates to third parties, such as data providers, data consumers, and service providers. This difference helps make the governance framework clearer and more operational.
The Governance Framework provides the overall structure for how the data space is governed. The Rulebook, or Data Space Template, is an artefact of this governance framework: it documents and operationalises the rules, policies, and governance specifications of the data space.
Note: Terms and conditions of use, as well as contracts with participants or service providers, may be based on the Data Space Governance framework, such as the Data Space Rulebook or Data Space Template, but they are not part of the governance framework itself.
*Within this layered model, the Governance Authority plays a key role in ensuring coherence and accountability. Under the iSHARE Trust Framework, this governance role is fulfilled by the Data Space Governance Body, while the technical component is the Participant Registry. Together, these two elements were previously known as the iSHARE Satellite.
The Data Space Governance Body serves as the main representative of a data space and is responsible for defining, evolving, maintaining, and governing participant lifecycle processes. This function closely corresponds to the Governance Authority as described in the DSSC Blueprint.
The Governance Body can be a legal entity or a non-legal consortium operating under agreed governance principles. In some cases, a single legal entity may perform both the Participant Registry and Data Space Governance Body roles, while in others, these may be separated through contractual arrangements.
The iSHARE Data Space Template (this document) supports data spaces in defining their own governance frameworks and internal policies while maintaining alignment with the overarching iSHARE Trust Framework. It allows flexibility in design choices, enabling each data space to determine its optimal balance between autonomy and interoperability.
This federated approach allows data spaces to evolve organically while ensuring shared accountability, transparent decision-making, and a consistent foundation for trust across the wider ecosystem.
3. Participant Governance Layer
This layer operationalises the part of the governance framework that governs the relationship between the data space and its participants or third parties. In practice, this includes admission criteria, onboarding and verification, role assignment, compliance check, monitoring, warnings or suspensions where relevant, and offboarding. It manages participant lifecycle processes and policy enforcement, ensuring accountability and transparency at the operational level.
4. Use Case Governance Layer
Each use case within a data space operates under the overarching governance of its data space, but can adopt additional, use case–specific rules or restrictions. This enables innovation while maintaining alignment with the data space’s shared governance framework.
Organisational Form & Governance Authority connects closely with other building blocks:
Business Model: Decisions about legal form and operations affect the organisational structure.
Participation Management: Organisational form sets rules for member admission, roles, and responsibilities.
Contractual Framework: Contracts depend on the organisational form and define member rights and obligations.
The guiding questions can help in the co-creation process and in defining this building block, so please see the next section.
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