scholarly journals The European Union’s Toolkit for the Regulation of the Digital Economy (analytical review)

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-272
Author(s):  
Irina Popova ◽  

The European Union (EU) is trying to increase its influence on the international regulation of the digital economy through domestic and foreign policy initiatives. The EU’s digital strategy, adopted in 2020, envisages measures to further consolidate the single digital market and promote EU standards and regulation internationally. The main goal of the strategy is to ensure the EU’s digital sovereignty. This objective is at the core of policy measures in three priority areas: the elimination of remaining barriers in the internal market, the development of advanced technologies, and the safeguarding of the rights, freedoms and development of democracy in Europe. These three strategic priorities determine sectoral policies: 5/6G development, high performing computers, regulation of digital markets and platforms, cybersecurity, and data governance. The EU uses regulatory, economic, institutional, networking, and foreign policy instruments and mechanisms to achieve its objectives in specific policy areas. Regulation includes further raising standards for personal data protection and consumer rights, control over digital platforms, laying down a legal framework for the development of cutting-edge technologies, attracting investments, and allocating the EU’s own resources to potentially occupy niches in international markets in the future, all of which will strengthen the EU’s claim to leadership in regulating the digital economy and ensure its digital sovereignty. Foreign policy mechanisms are an important part of the toolkit and include a developed European diplomacy, established ties through the Neighbourhood Policy, and the conditionality of development aid.

Author(s):  
Ondrej Hamulák ◽  
Josef Andraško ◽  
Matúš Mesarčík

This article focuses on the issue of data governance in connected vehicles. Firstly, basic notions of autonomous vehicles are analyzed, and a legal framework is introduced. The European Union aims to create cooperative, connected, and automated mobility based on the cooperation of different inter-connected types of machinery. The essence of the system is data flow in connected vehicles, and the issue represents one of the heavily discussed themes in legal doctrine. Therefore, data governance is further discussed in the article. The final part of the article deals with the issue of responsibility and liability of different actors involved in the processing of personal data according to the General Data Protection Regulation applied to the environment of CAV smart infrastructure.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 959-974
Author(s):  
Shahzada Aamir Mushtaq ◽  
Fariha Sabahat ◽  
Huma Rao

The Digital platforms are a unique creation of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The digital economy may have replaced the industrial economy, but the rules created to oversee the fair operation of the industrial economy have not kept pace with that evolution. The digitalization of the economy with consumer data as a new critical resource is an advancement of a technological revolution which needs an adaptation of regulatory framework for markets and the world economy. This paper analyzed the privacy and data protection concerns in the digital economy from an economic perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises. The tech giants, by controlling user's data are exploiting it for their own commercial benefits and inflicting the threats to the privacy of users.  This paper intends to shed light that it's not enough to look for policy solutions only within the competition or data protection law. Rather an integrated move from various regulatory perspectives is necessary. Therefore, the article focuses that the formalistic approach to article 101 and 102 of TFEU (Treaty On The Functioning OF The European Union which the EU Commission usually adopted as an effects-based approach) to counter exploitative, exclusionary practices, and potential harm to consumers is efficacious to regulate the digital platforms. Furthermore, this research presses the necessity of how the abusive conduct of data-driven entrants be regularized by forwarding the new concepts of antitrust law and its effective enforcement across the globe. The digital platforms have fundamentally changed the ways we interact with news, with each other, and with governments and business. Digital platforms act as intermediaries which connect two or more market participants via the platform and simplify their interaction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Alexandre Veronese ◽  
Alessandra Silveira ◽  
Amanda Nunes Lopes Espiñeira Lemos

The article discusses the ethical and technical consequences of Artificial intelligence (hereinafter, A.I) applications and their usage of the European Union data protection legal framework to enable citizens to defend themselves against them. This goal is under the larger European Union Digital Single Market policy, which has concerns about how this subject correlates with personal data protection. The article has four sections. The first one introduces the main issue by describing the importance of AI applications in the contemporary world scenario. The second one describes some fundamental concepts about AI. The third section has an analysis of the ongoing policies for AI in the European Union and the Council of Europe proposal about ethics applicable to AI in the judicial systems. The fourth section is the conclusion, which debates the current legal mechanisms for citizens protection against fully automated decisions, based on European Union Law and in particular the General Data Protection Regulation. The conclusion will be that European Union Law is still under construction when it comes to providing effective protection to its citizens against automated inferences that are unfair or unreasonable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (3(88)) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Voronchak ◽  
Yuriy Vovk

The paper investigates the theoretical and practical aspects of providing the corporate social responsibility in a digital economy. The digital transformation of economic activity necessitates a business response to fundamental new challenges and threats related to cybersecurity, privacy, copyright protection, blockchain, misinformation, ethical algorithms for artificial intelligence etc. The quantity and complexity of digitalization problems determines the need for a consistent and comprehensive approach to ensuring digital responsibility in economy. Corporate digital responsibility can be defined as a responsible and ethical using of digital technologies; forecasting the social, economic and environmental consequences of decisions made in the digital economy. The analysis of social reports and web resources of Ukrainian companies indicates that their potential of digital responsibility is limited to the digital skills transfer and partial using in communications with stakeholders. At the same time, there are promising ways of manifesting social responsibility of domestic enterprises: investments in digital infrastructure and education; using digital technologies to monitor the responsibility and business ethics of suppliers and contractors; digitalization of environmental management processes; protection of digital rights and personal data of customers, employees, partners; dialogue with real and potential stakeholders through digital channels. Foreign experience shows that it is efficient to form public-private partnership platforms in the field of digital responsibility and sustainable development. It is also appropriate for the government to develop and implement a strategy for the digital transformation, programs of economic and advisory support for digital social entrepreneurship; to form standards for assessing and reporting about corporate digital responsibility; to eliminate the institutional and legislative barriers to the digital economy development; to overcome the digital divide in society; to create algorithms for personal data processing and suitable digital platforms.


Pravovedenie ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-572
Author(s):  
Ioannis Lianos ◽  
◽  
Zingales Nicolo ◽  
Andrew McLean ◽  
Azza Raslan ◽  
...  

The article reveals new problems arising in the digital economy and the need for antimonopoly regulation. It also analyzes the legal remedies and procedures for competition law in the context of digitalization. Redesigning competition law procedures for the digital economy can take two forms: 1) ensure the rate of competition law enforcement so as to avoid acting in situations when market tipping has already occurred and it is almost impossible to reverse the anticompetitive outcome; 2) develop remedial action that takes into account the scale of anticompetitive behavior, which might better reflect the complexity of digital markets. Competition authorities should consider utilizing interim measures and commitment decisions in the digital economy, both instruments playing a complementary role. Interim measures can be used within a revised framework with lower thresholds, but this should only be reserved for complicated and lengthy investigations where there is risk of irreversible harm to competition. These measures should be applied to the most harmful violations, such as cartels and abuse of dominance. Commitment decisions can be utilized to address less serious violations where it is also beneficial to the competition authority to reach a swift resolution. The article analyzes the division of companies as a way to eliminate violations. Division can take different forms and need not be structural. A certain ‘light-touch’ separation may be achieved by policies mandating that digital platforms not use personal data that has been harvested by the members of their ecosystems unless they have the explicit consent of their users. The article also addresses issues such as data portability and cross-platform compatibility. The authors have proved that the BRICS countries need to supplement their national legislation on the protection of personal data in terms of norms on their portability. Although it is not mainly designed as a tool to combat monopolies and market power, data portability will have a significant impact on competition in digital markets. Multisided digital platforms are characterized by a high network and lock-in effects. In a winner takes all, or most, where undertakings compete for the market rather than in the market, the right to data portability may provide some relief from the power that large digital platforms hold.


2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-49
Author(s):  
Maja Kovacevic

The European Union (EU) is a unique player in the Western Balkans, where it has employed a wide array of foreign policy instruments since the 1990s such as diplomacy, trade, financial assistance, civilian missions, military missions, and enlargement, which is the EU?s most successful foreign policy tool. The region is an inspiring case for studying the EU?s transformative power. The undeniable success of the EU?s Enlargement Policy in influencing transitions of Central and Eastern Europe countries has inspired research of the Europeanization, or the EU?s transformative power in relation to candidate countries, and its impact on their political and economic reforms during the accession process. Since then, the EU?s global transformative power has been in crisis. The European Neighbourhood Policy was reviewed in 2015, aiming not any more towards the transformation of neighbouring states, but rather at fostering their resilience. Similarly, the 2016 Global Strategy for the European Union?s Foreign and Security Policy set the principled pragmatism as a guideline. Moreover, the EU?s transformative power towards member states is questioned after two initiatives to trigger Article 7 TEU procedures against Poland and Hungary. What about the Europeanization of the Western Balkans? Despite the fact that the EU has been the main driver of change, the Europeanization of this post-conflict region has been slow. According to Freedom House, after substantial progress from 2004 to 2010, the Western Balkans has declined six years in a row, and its average Democracy Score in 2016 is the same as it was in 2004. With the exception of Albania, the scores of all countries are declining, not improving. The EU?s security-democratisation dilemma strongly affects its transformative power in the Western Balkans. By prioritising effective government rather than democratic governance, the EU has helped stabilise non-democratic and corrupt regimes rather than transforming them, legitimising Balkan "stabilitocrats".


Author(s):  
Rita De Sousa Costa

[PT]No presente texto, apresentamos as grandes linhas de aplicação do direito europeu da protecção de dados conforme gizadas pela jurisprudência do TJUE, com o objectivo de demonstrar como e em que medida este Tribunal modelou – e continua a modelar – o quadro jurídico em vigor, na certeza de que aquela jurisprudência impõe um conjunto de desafios determinantes para a realização material do direito europeu da protecção de dados pessoais. [ESP]Este texto presenta las líneas generales de la aplicación de la legislación europea de protección de datos tal como se establece en la jurisprudencia del TJUE, con el objetivo de demostrar cómo y en qué medida este Tribunal ha configurado -y sigue configurando- el marco jurídico vigente, con la certeza de que la dicha jurisprudencia plantea una serie de retos cruciales para la aplicación material del derecho europeo de la protección de datos personales. [ENG]This text outlines the implementation of the European data protection law as laid down in the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, with the aim of demonstrating how and to what extent the Court has shaped – and continues to shape – the current legal framework. The case-law analysed points out a plethora of challenges which are key to the implementation of the European personal data protection law.


Author(s):  
Armina Čunjalo ◽  
Zlatan Omerspahić

The paper analyses the issue of judicial review in personal data protection proceedings. The subject of analyses is a procedural safeguard and other peculiarities of the administrative dispute and the standard of administrative law protection in the mentioned proceedings and the role of the Court of BiH. A comparative legal analysis of administrative-legal protection in the same disputes within Croatia and Slovenia is conducted, together with the relevant legal framework of the European Union. The comparative legal analysis aims to determine the extent to which the domestic model of administrative-legal protection and legal standards of judicial protection is compatible with the solutions adopted across Europe. It draws attention to problematic and controversial solutions to domestic legislation. In conclusion, the authors propose several regulatory solutions which would bring improvements to the current system of judicial protection in domestic law.


2018 ◽  
pp. 73-85
Author(s):  
Martin Dahl

Due to its historical experience and geopolitical location, the Federal Republic of Germany is a state which uses so-called soft instruments in its foreign policy. Development aid, which has more and more often assumed the form of development cooperation over the years, is one of the most effective foreign policy instruments used by Germany.The purpose of this article is to answer the question of to what extent and in what areas is development policy an effective instrument of German foreign policy? The considerations refer particularly to liberal theory in international relations and, to some extent, to the assumptions of realism. The research methodology adopted is based on analysis of facts and selected documents. The main conclusions from the study confirm the assumption adopted in the introduction that development aid is one of the most important instruments used by Germany to influence the international environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanne Winkels

The collection and analysis of individuals data by governments and organizations is an area that lacks overarching protection at the international level, there is potential for an international system monitoring the use of Big Data and providing protections against violations of the right to privacy among other human rights laws. This paper outlines the policy background, then analyzes the use of Big Data through case studies of collection of data on LBTQ+ in Russia, and Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province. After establishing the potential for abuses and violations of human rights and the right to privacy through unfettered access to personal data, this paper then considers proposed models to assess and protect human rights in this area, and looks at the potential for the development of an international monitoring system. To take steps towards developing an international legal framework of data protection I argue that the use of international norms to create monitoring bodies, and treaty law between nation-states and also international organizations can be utilized to develop such a framework. 


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