Connected – January 2024
Written By
Regulatory and Public Affairs Director
Belgium
Ireland
As Regulatory & Public Affairs Director in Brussels, I assist companies facing an unprecedented wave of new EU regulation that will have an impact on every business operating in the digital and data-related economy. I help companies navigate complex EU decision-making processes and understand the practical application of the law to their sectors.
This issue has been edited by Francine Cunningham with contributions from the Regulatory & Public Affairs team.
In this New Year’s edition, we provide a state of play of recent and incoming EU initiatives in the field of artificial intelligence, digital services, cyber security and media regulation, in addition to providing an overview of UK telecoms trends. After the regulatory zeal of law makers in recent years, 2024 will see some of this new legislation being put to the test in the marketplace. Companies in scope of the new rules will have to pursue their preparation plans in earnest to meet a raft of compliance deadlines.
Technical efforts underway to push AI Act across the finish line
Detailed technical work to finalise the legal text of the incoming EU Artificial Intelligence Act is ongoing, despite the announcement of a political agreement on the new regulation released with much fanfare on 9 December after a three-day marathon negotiation. Belgium, which took over the Presidency of the EU Council on 1 January from Spain has organised a series of technical meetings in January with the aim of producing a consolidated text by the end of the month. At the very latest, a final draft of the Regulation should be ready by early February to allow sufficient time for both the European Parliament and the Council to formally adopt the Regulation ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.
Before the winter holiday, the three biggest EU Member States - France, Germany and Italy – declined to officially endorse the political agreement on the AI Act at a meeting of the Committee of EU deputy ambassadors (COREPER), on the basis that they had not seen the final text. Representatives of these three Member States have also expressed reservations about the political compromise reached. Nevertheless, there remains strong political momentum to finalise the Regulation in the next weeks.
For more information, please contact Francine Cunningham.
New safety rules set to apply to all digital service providers
This year will see the full applicability of the EU Digital Services Act, which is designed to curb illegal and harmful activities online and increase user safety. From 17 February 2024 the DSA rules will apply to all digital service providers. The DSA is already having a significant impact on digital governance since it came into force on 16 November 2022.
Since August 2023, Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) and Very Large Search Engines (VLOSEs), including some leading app stores, social media networks and online marketplaces, have faced strict obligations designed to guard against any illegal or harmful content on their systems. On 20 December, the European Commission designated an additional three companies as VLOPs under the DSA: Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos. These VLOPs are regarding by the Commission as meeting the threshold of more than 45 million average monthly users in the EU and will have to comply with relevant DSA obligations by 17 February 2024.
In the next 12 months, we can expect the publication of secondary legislation to further elaborate on the principles and objectives of the DSA. It is also possible that there will be further designations of very large players.
READ THE FULL STORY
For more information, please contact Paolo Sasdelli.
Countdown to ‘gatekeeper’ compliance with DMA
In the course of the next months, stakeholders will be watching closely to assess the impact of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) as designated “gatekeepers” prepare to comply with their new obligations under the Regulation.
Stricter cybersecurity rules to apply to products
While much political attention focused on the intense negotiations on the AI Act at the end of last year, another important piece of legislation was also moving towards the finish line. On 27 November 2023, European parliamentarians and the Council struck a provisional deal on the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which will introduce new cyber security and cyber resilience obligations to protect digital products in the EU from cyber threats.
For more information, please contact Feyo Sickinghe, Dr. Natallia Karniyevich and Berend van der Eijk.
Negotiations due to kick off on Cyber Solidarity Act
EU Member States recently reached a common position to strengthen the Union’s solidarity and capacities to detect, prepare for and respond to cybersecurity threats and incidents.
Technical work aims to finalise European Media Freedom Act
Technical “trilogue” meetings with the aim of finalising the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) took place from 8-10 February, presided over the current Belgian Presidency of the Council.
UK telecoms regulatory trends for 2024
The UK’s telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has set out its proposed plan of work for 2024/2025. This prioritises the implementation of new online safety and telecoms security regimes, as well as taking steps to address scam calls and messages as well as Ofcom kicking off its wholesale access (broadband and fibre) markets. In parallel, new legislation is currently passing through the UK Parliament which will affect telecoms in the UK.
For more information, please contact Rory Coutts.
