After the Committee on the Internal Market last week, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, presented his vision in his areas of competence to Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs on Monday 25 May in a structured dialogue (see EUROPE 12489/5). On the menu: data governance, tracing applications, artificial intelligence, intellectual property, platforms and copyright.
Artificial intelligence: a framework on liability has not been excluded
During this exchange, Thierry Breton provided a reminder of a series of positions which are already well-known. For example, he confirmed his intention to present an intellectual property action plan “fairly swiftly”. “The first priority is to launch the unitary patent creating a one-stop shop for businesses and reducing the cost of patenting in the EU. If a patent is made to protect, it must also allow for the sharing and dissemination of technology,” indicating that this was particularly necessary with regard to the development of 5G.
However, this event also prompted him to go a little further and, in response to questions from members, to take a stand. For example, on the idea of providing new liability rules for artificial intelligence systems, he said: “A flexible and fair regulatory framework on liability for potential damages resulting from AI is desirable, in my view”. He went on to urge caution on this point saying: “But let's wait for the results of the public consultation (in a few weeks) and the new legal framework for AI before developing new rules” (see EUROPE 12486/15).
The Commissioner also referred to guidelines which the Commission is currently preparing, to implement Article 17 of the Copyright Directive. He indicated that the dialogue with stakeholders would continue “in writing” in view of the physical distancing measures, with a view to an adoption “in the autumn” (see EUROPE 12349/17, 12428/26).
Tracing applications: Apple and Google are ready
Tracing applications have also been in the news a lot. The Commissioner reiterated that such applications would have to respect all European rules (see EUROPE 12486/8).
“These applications must be voluntary, transparent, temporary, cybersecure and use anonymous data. They should rely on proximity data (Bluetooth), but not geolocation. They must be interoperable between countries and operating systems,” the Commissioner once again stated in response to MEPs' concerns. “No security agency or police service will be able to use this data”, he told digital activist MEP Patrick Breyer (Greens/EFA, Germany).
The Commissioner noted that he had spoken to the heads of Google and Apple “to remind them that there is no way to derogate from European privacy rules” (see EUROPE 12490/21). The two American giants announced on Thursday 21 May that they had finalised their application programming interface (API) that health agencies will be able to integrate into their own tracing applications. They said they had received a request for access from 22 countries on five continents by that date and added that they expected more requests in the coming weeks. On the European side, most countries are moving towards this option. France and the United Kingdom have chosen a different approach, preferring to retain full control of the application (see EUROPE 12487/12). (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)