The European Union will continue to roll out its strategy for the single digital market in 2018. The European Commission is expected to present its initiative on high-performance information technology after the winter holidays. According to a document shown to a small press briefing on Wednesday 20 December, it also expects around 10 dossiers to be adopted under the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The co-legislators have currently agreed on around 10 legislative proposals for the single digital market strategy. The European Commission is expecting an agreement under the Bulgarian Presidency on the electronic communications code, the body of European regulators, the provision of digital contracts, taxation of e-books, audio-visual media services, copyright, audio-visual geo-blocking, the free flow of data and online governance. It is also hoping that the Bulgarian Presidency will be able to obtain a general approach on tangible goods, the confidentiality of electronic communications and the Agency for Network and Information Security.
High-performance calculation. The year is expected to get off to a flying start because, from the very first College of Commissioners’ meeting, the Commission is planning to adopt a legislative act for putting into place an informatics infrastructure that is able to carry out calculations that are 100 times faster than is currently the case. A Commission official indicated: “The idea would be to use European funds to build these pieces and make them available in a cloud computing form … If the College agrees, an estimate of the funds available in the proposal will be provided. I can already say, however, that this will be a substantial amount and will be in billions”. The instrument is expected to be operational by 2019 or 2020 and will be the subject of discussions during the negotiations regarding the multi-annual financial framework. So far, 12 member states and Switzerland have co-signed the declaration on “EuroHPC” state cooperation (see EUROPE 11888).
Large package planned for April. The Commission has announced several initiatives in April: a package on data use and sharing, an initiative on fake news, one on artificial intelligence and another on unfair practices in platforms/business relations.
With regard to artificial intelligence, it is highly likely that there will be a communication to kick start discussions on the most controversial subjects, such as liability. The initiative will be based around three pillars: (1) industrial capacity; (2) ethical and legal questions; (3) socio-economic questions. In response to the question of whether there will also be a legislative initiative, the official mentioned above said: “We will be taking our time” and highlighted the ongoing assessment of the directive on product security.
The Commission will subsequently published its guidelines to put a stop to unfair contractual clauses and trade practices identified in relations between platforms and businesses. This initiative was initially intended to be published before the end of 2017 but was pushed back by “several months” due to “additional questions” regarding the economic analysis by the control committee. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)