The European Approach to Building AI Policy and Governance: A Haven for Bureaucrats or Innovators?

Disruptive technologies and the domination of digital platforms have challenged the global economy players twice — first, to get a hand on them, then to mitigate the possible risks. It is beyond doubt that reliable artificial intelligence (AI) can bring many benefits at the European level, such as better health care, safer and cleaner transport, more efficient manufacturing, and sustainable energy. But regulating the unknown requires considerable effort on how to attract investors using clear rules while keeping human control over the algorithms as a priority. In April 2021, the EU Commission published a holistic proposal to regulate the use of AI, which promises to put trust first and ensure that facial recognition and big data operators will never abuse fundamental human rights. Although the proposal is likely to be amended during EU-wide discussions, the new approach to AI will clearly give citizens the reassurance to adopt these technologies while encouraging companies to develop them. Hence, this article aims to map the core challenges for the EU policy on the use of AI, as well as the milestones of developing the holistic legislative proposal, and clarify if the afore-mentioned proposal indeed solves all the AI-related risks for future generations.

‘Children in Criminal Procedure – Friendly Law’

The considerations undertaken in the scientific article constitute an analysis and evaluation of the solutions included in the government's legislative proposal aimed to change the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Family and Guardianship Code, and the Law on the System of Common Courts with regard to the position of minor victims. The legislative initiative is a significant change that aims to improve the protection of children participating in criminal procedures. This legal act’s draft indicates the provision of a special position to children in the criminal procedure. If children happen to be the aggrieved parties in criminal procedures, they deserve to be met by the court and participants with exceptional awareness and sensitivity. I am of the opinion that the criminal procedure must be structured in such a way that the participating children feel safe. The judiciary should aim to be child-friendly. It is extremely important that children feel understood as well as they understand the new legal reality in which they find themselves. In this analysis, I have referred to the regulations on the protection of children's rights under the international law and the law of the European Union. In this study, I have laid emphasis on the point that the proposed legislative solutions should meet the assumptions of the European directives issued by the European Union institutions as well as the Guidelines of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on child-friendly justice, the main act on the protection of children's rights issued by the Council of Europe.

The Legal Nature and the Place of the Right to Disconnect in European and in Russian Labour Law

The first part of this article is devoted to the legislative proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on the right to disconnect that was adopted on 21 January 2021 in the European Parliament Resolution. In this part of the article the legal nature of the “right to disconnect, “the personal and material scope of this right as well as the relationship to other (fundamental) labour rights and different aspects of the employment relationship are analysed. Furthermore, the author discloses the gaps of the legislative proposal and makes some suggestions concerning a new concept of working conditions. The second part of the article focuses on Russian labour law. During the process of reforming the legislation on remote work it was widely discussed whether “a right to disconnect” should be provided for in the Russian Labour Code. The author analyses problems with the organisation of working time concerning the application of a special working regime entitled “unregular working day” and the recording of working time. Furthermore, the perspectives of the application of self-protection of labour rights as a way to guarantee the right to disconnect are examined. The conclusion stresses which measures would be necessary for an effective execution and enforcement of the right to disconnect.

Polling stations - the main cornerstone of elections

In this article, we discuss the legislative proposal submitted by us, according to which we request an amendment to Article 61, Part 1, Paragraph 1 of the Election Code of Georgia, according to which a new function was added to the member of the flow regulation commission - if necessary, electronically check In the list. In addition, Article 58 (4) (b) of the law requires a change, according to which special places for election observers and party representatives will be allocated at the polling station on polling day, from where they will be able to freely observe the election process at the polling station. With these changes, the Election Code of Georgia will be able to better regulate the problems existing at the polling station on the polling day; It serves to create a safe, comfortable electoral environment for both the voter and the other persons involved in the election process in the line of duty. Keywords: Elections, Legislative Proposal, Election Code

CIVES - Citizens Towards Sustainability. Emblematic results of a research

L. n. 92/2019 introduced the transversal teaching of civic education in schools of all levels from the 2020-2021 school year. This contribution, without any claim to being exhaustive, proposes an interpretative reflection starting from some data that emerged in the context of the CIVES research (CIttadini VErso la Sostenibilità) which started from the training course on sustainable development aimed at the referring teachers of civic education of 51 Brescia institutes. The observations collected in the group debates highlighted fundamental contextual data for setting educational interventions, in an overall situation that appears very heterogeneous. Culture of sustainability and solidarity citizenship constitute two possible interpretations of the legislative proposal, taken for the training of teachers. CIVES - CIttadini VErso la Sostenibilità. Esiti emblematici di una ricerca La L. n. 92/2019 ha introdotto dall’anno scolastico 2020-2021 l’insegnamento trasversale dell’educazione civica nelle scuole di ogni ordine e grado. Il presente contributo, senza alcuna pretesa di esaustività, prospetta una riflessione interpretativa a partire da alcuni dati emersi nell’ambito della ricerca CIVES (CIttadini VErso la Sostenibilità) che ha preso le mosse dal corso di formazione in tema di sviluppo sostenibile rivolto ai docenti referenti di educazione civica di 51 istituti bresciani. Le osservazioni raccolte nei dibattiti di gruppo hanno evidenziato dati contestuali fondamentali per impostare interventi educativi, in una situazione complessiva che appare assai eterogenea. Cultura della sostenibilità e cittadinanza solidale configurano due possibili chiavi di lettura della proposta legislativa, assunte per la formazione dei docenti.

Why Defend Something I Don’t Agree with? Conflicts within the Commission and Legislative Amendments in Trilogues

This article aims to examine the effect of intra-institutional conflicts in the European Commission on the extent of changes made to legislative proposals in trilogue negotiations. We develop and test three hypotheses related to how conflicts within the Commission, namely that intra-institutional disagreements during policy formulation (h1), and potential conflicts with previous (h2) or subsequent (h3) colleges of commissioners, increase the number of amendments to the Commission’s proposal adopted in trilogues. To test our hypotheses, we use a new dataset measuring the number of changes between Commission proposals and adopted legislation for 216 legislative acts negotiated between 2012 and 2019 by means of text-mining techniques. It is important to note that we control for differences between the Commission’s proposals and the co-legislators’ positions in order to distinguish between an effect on preferences anticipation and on the negotiations proper. Our results indicate that intra-institutional conflicts affect the Commission’s anticipation of the co-legislators’ positions. The effect on its behaviour in trilogues, that is, after the legislative proposal has been tabled, is less clear. Regarding the latter, only the number of Directorates-General involved is significantly linked with the number of amendments tabled. These findings suggest that while intra-institutional disagreements affect the Commission’s role in trilogues, the range of preferences is more important than the intensity of conflicts.

Disposal of the Interdiction on Being a Sole Shareholder in Several Limited Liability Companies (The Repeal of Art. 14 of the Companies Law No. 31/1990) – Who Does It Use?

The present article proposes a brief analysis of one of the most controversial amendments to the Companies Law no. 31/1990: the repeal of art. 14 or, in translation, the disposal of the interdiction on a natural or legal person on being a sole shareholder in several limited liability companies. Starting from the presentation of the route taken by the legislative proposal- which currently takes the form of Law no. 102/2020 for the amendment and completion of the Companies Law no. 31 / 1990-, presenting the reason for such a change, in the final part of the article we balance the nuances of enthusiasm, but also those of reluctance with which the doctrine and the business environment embraced the disposal of this interdiction.

“Victims’ participation rights in the post-sentencing phase: The Netherlands in comparative perspective”

Victims’ rights have proliferated rapidly over the past decades. However, the development of rights in the post-sentencing phase has lagged behind. In this article, we argue that victims’ rights may contribute to the acknowledgement of victims, something that victimological research suggests is important for victims’ well-being at every stage of criminal proceedings. We review a new Dutch law and a legislative proposal aiming to improve victims’ rights in the post-sentencing phase in relation to conditional release from prison and conditional discharge from forensic psychiatric hospital. More specifically, we compare these (proposed) victims’ participatory rights with those existing in the Canadian, Belgian and German framework. We argue for a strengthened position of the victim in the post-sentencing phase. We close by showing that the practical effectiveness of these proposed rights is put at risk by COVID-19 and states’ response to the same.