european union

On 19 September 2019, the European Parliamentary Research Service (“EPRS”)—the European Parliament’s in-house research service—released a briefing paper that summarizes the current status of the EU’s approach to developing a regulatory framework for ethical AI.  Although not a policymaking body, the EPRS can provide useful insights into the direction of EU policy on an issue.  The paper summarises recent calls in the EU for adopting legally binding instruments to regulate AI, in particular to set common rules on AI transparency, set common requirements for fundamental rights impact assessments, and provide an adequate legal framework for facial recognition technology.

The briefing paper follows publication of the European Commission’s high-level expert group’s Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (the “Guidelines”), and the announcement by incoming Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that she will put forward legislative proposals for a “coordinated European approach to the human and ethical implications of AI” within her first 100 days in office.Continue Reading European Parliamentary Research Service issues a briefing paper on implementing EU’s ethical guidelines on AI

On July 24, 2019, the European Parliament published a study entitled “Blockchain and the General Data Protection Regulation: Can distributed ledgers be squared with European data protection law?”  The study explores the tension between blockchain technology and compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), the EU’s data protection law.  The study also explores how blockchain technology can be used as a tool to assist with GDPR compliance.  Finally, it recommends the adoption of certain policies to address the tension between blockchain and the GDPR, to ensure that “innovation is not stifled and remains responsible”.  This blog post highlights some of the key findings in the study and provides a summary of the recommended policy options.
Continue Reading European Parliament Publishes Study on Blockchain and the GDPR

The European Commission (the “Commission”) has launched an Open Public Consultation for building trust in Connected and Automated Mobility (the “CAM Consultation”) on the main challenges linked to the deployment of connected and automated mobility services in Europe and how trust should be built in such services. This CAM Consultation, which largely takes the form of an electronic multiple choice survey, is aimed at gathering input from the general public and relevant stakeholders – such as car manufacturers, connectivity providers, service providers, telecom providers, end-users and public authorities including municipalities, the health community and civil society organisations.

The CAM Consultation follows on from the Commission’s Communication on Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) (the “Communication”) released in May 2018, which put forward a strategy to make Europe a “world leader in the deployment of connected and automated mobility”. Additional details on the CAM Consultation can be accessed here.
Continue Reading IoT Update: The European Commission consults on building trust in Connected and Automated Mobility

City leaders across the globe are predicted to spend upwards of $41 trillion by 2020 to deploy smart city technologies within their locales. From Toronto to Tokyo, cities are vying to harness the benefits of the Internet of Things (“IOT”) in order to help make their streets safer, transportation more efficient, and their environments greener. While exciting, there are a number of challenges facing cities on their quest to get smart. Resources are scarce, building the required infrastructure is expensive and obtaining the necessary consensus and cooperation amongst municipal stakeholders can be downright impossible. For vendors looking to capitalize on this momentum, learning from successful smart city projects and planning around the common conflicts that tend to arise is crucial. Below are a number of best practices gleaned from the strategies and progress of a number of cities who have found success in implementing smart city solutions.
Continue Reading Covington IoT Update: Best Practices for Outsmarting Common Pitfalls in Smart City Projects

BEREC, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications, recently held its 34th public debriefing in Brussels. It confirmed, among other developments, that it has made 5G a strategic European priority for the next 3 years, and has opened a public consultation on the European Net Neutrality Rules – which will run until April 25 2018.
Continue Reading Covington Internet of Things Update: BEREC Confirms European 5G Strategy Priority and Opens Public Consultation on the European Net Neutrality Rules

This post was originally published on the Covington InsidePrivacy blog on January 19, 2018.

On January 12, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas closed its doors for another year.  Each CES raises a new set of technology themes, ranging from robots to smart fridges — and this year, the winner was voice technologies.  Such technologies, while not entirely new, are now becoming mainstream:  sales of smart speakers like Amazon’s Echo more than tripled in 2017, and it is now estimated that one in six Americans own a smart speaker.  It is always difficult to predict the future, but voice enabled cars, home appliances, and other devices are all either on the way or already on the market, and the potential for voice interfaces to become new “platforms” — supporting third party services just like smartphones supported apps — is now clear to us all.
Continue Reading Covington Internet of Things Update: Voice Technologies, Meet the EU E-Privacy Regulation

On 20 April 2015 the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (“ACM”) published new guidance regarding its enforcement priorities in relation to distribution agreements, noting that its enforcement efforts will be focused on agreements having the most significant impact on consumer welfare.  The 28-page document explains that before opening an investigation, the ACM will first

By Dan Cooper and Oliver Grazebrook

On 20 June 2103, the Court of Rome in Italy ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation (the charitable organisation that operates Wikipedia) could not be liable for defamatory content posted by users on its site.  The court deemed that Wikimedia fell within the exemptions in the Italian transposition of Articles

On 13 June 2013, Advocate General (“AG”) Niilo Jääskinen of the EU’s Court of Justice (CJEU) issued his non-binding Opinion in the Pinckney case, dealing with the question of courts’ competence to hear online copyright infringement cases in the EU.  In his Opinion, the AG extended to copyright principles developed in relation to other IP