On Monday 27 January, MEPs sitting on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) received initial feedback on the application of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). Andreas Schwab (EPP, German) and Brando Benifei (S&D, Italian), who are respectively chairs of the DMA monitoring group and co-chair of the AI Act group, summarised the main criticisms and the progress that has been made in implementing the two pieces of legislation.
DMA. Andreas Schwab, reporting on the European Commission’s statements on the subject, gave assurances that there would be “no change” and no halt to the implementation of the DMA and the ongoing investigations.
For the German MEP, the important thing at this stage is to “continue to push for an increase in the workforce to counterbalance” the large number of lawyers hired by gatekeepers who were appointed during the investigations opened by the Commission.
He also stressed the need for the Commission to “clarify” the status of AI and Cloud services within the current scope of the DMA.
Legislation on AI. The AI Act will apply between February 2025 and August 2027. However, the European Commission is yet to publish its ‘guidelines’, which should help stakeholders and Member States to correctly implement all the practical details of the legislation.
This late publication has been criticised by the parliamentary monitoring group and a number of stakeholders. In particular, the Commission is tasked with drawing up guidelines on the list of prohibited artificial intelligence practices and the definition of an ‘AI system’.
“The process of drafting these guidelines is not transparent”, Brando Benifei complained to his colleagues. “There is no draft available for the latest version and the Commission is not paying enough attention to the concerns raised by stakeholders about the potential damage to individuals”, he said.
According to the MEP, a new version of these guidelines should be finalised by the European Commission in February. The monitoring group is due to meet on 6 and 19 February to discuss AI practices that are prohibited by Member States. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)