In an open letter dated Wednesday 9 July and addressed to Henna Virkkunen, Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty, Stéphane Séjourné, Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, and Valdis Dombrovskis, Commissioner for the Economy and Productivity, 43 associations call on the Commission not to delay or reopen the AI Act.
Worried about the content of future ‘omnibus’ digital simplification legislation, the organisations say they are “especially concerned by the growing pressure regarding a potential ‘stop the clock’ mechanism to suspend or delay the implementation and enforcement of the IA Act” (see EUROPE 13673/15).
In their view, “the EU ‘simplification’ agenda should not be used to drive deregulation, especially in the absence of credible evidence that this would be necessary or effective”.
The organisations argue that even targeted and limited changes could have counter-productive consequences contrary to the spirit of the legislation, “rolling back fundamental rights, sending the wrong signal about Europe’s commitment to rights-respecting tech governance, and undermining legal certainty”.
The Commission recently denied any pause or setback in the implementation of the AI Act’s obligations (see EUROPE 13673/15). As for the digital simplification package expected in November, it could also include a targeted reopening of the General Data Protection Regulation (see EUROPE 13665/19) and certain parts of the IA Act (see EUROPE 13655/3).
To see the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/hsf (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)