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The House of Commons Committee on Science, Innovation and Technology (the Committee), embarked on an inquiry in October 2022 to assess the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on various sectors, AI regulation, and the UK Government’s AI governance proposals. The resulting interim report, published on 31 August 2023, offers valuable insights, particularly from a legal standpoint, on the challenges and approaches related to AI governance in the UK.…

Continue Reading AI, a Double-Edged Sword: Recommendations from the Committee’s Interim Report on AI

On 9 August 2023, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a joint position paper on Harmful Design in Digital Markets (Harmful Designs Paper) that urges businesses to stop using harmful website designs that exploit customers by encouraging them to provide more personal data than necessary. The regulators are…

On 7 June 2023, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) released a report Multilayer Framework for Good Cybersecurity Practices for AI (“Framework”) in response to the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) and the associated cybersecurity challenges. The publication aims to establish a robust framework that promotes cybersecurity practices throughout the entire lifecycle of AI, ranging from conceptualization to decommissioning. This blog summarises the main features of the Framework.…

Continue Reading ENISA Releases Comprehensive Framework for Ensuring Cybersecurity in the Lifecycle of AI Systems

If you can remember as far back as December 2021, we published a blog post announcing that the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published draft guidelines on the interplay between the territorial scope of the GDPR and the international transfer requirements. Following what must have been an extensive consultation, we are pleased to report that those guidelines were finally finalised on 14 February 2023 (here) and, are even more pleased to report that they contain some very useful illustrations to help you make sense of the concept of international data transfers.…

Continue Reading The EDPB makes its mind up about transfers

On 28 September 2022, the European Commission published the proposed AI Liability Directive. The Directive joins the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act (which we wrote about here) as the latest addition to the EU’s AI focused legislation. Whilst the AI Act proposes rules that seek to reduce risks to safety, the liability rules will apply where such a risk materialises and damage occurs.

In a European enterprise survey, 33% of companies considering adopting AI quoted ‘liability for potential damages’ as a major external challenge. The proposed Directive hopes to tackle this challenge by establishing EU-wide rules to ensure consumers obtain the same level of protection as they would if they issued a claim for damages from using any other product.…

Continue Reading What happens when AI goes wrong? The proposed EU AI Liability Directive

On 18 July 2022, the United Kingdom (UK) government set out its new proposals for regulating the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies while promoting innovation, boosting public trust, and protecting data. The proposals reflect a less centralised and more risk-based approach than in the EU’s draft AI Act.

The proposals coincide with the introduction to Parliament of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which includes measures to use AI responsibly while reducing compliance burdens on businesses to boost the economy.

Continue Reading UK government announces its proposals for regulating AI

On 17 June 2022, in response to its consultation in 2021 on the same topic (which we wrote about here), the UK government published more detailed proposals to reform data protection laws in the UK. The response to the consultation can be found here. The intention of the reforms is to achieve greater personal data use enabling economic growth by removing barriers and reducing obstacles for organisations whilst maintaining high standards of personal data protection and EU adequacy.…

Continue Reading Government releases proposals to reform UK data protection laws

Four years ago, the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) came into force in the EU. Since then, the GDPR has had a domino effect, as many countries in the world have used it as a model to shape their own rules on the handling of personal data. Given the rapid changes in data protection legislation around the world, legal and compliance teams of multinational organisations are under pressure to keep up with such developments as they continuously adapt their compliance programs in response.…

Continue Reading The fourth anniversary of the GDPR: How the GDPR has had a domino effect

On 28 April 2022, the UK Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) published two discussion papers on the benefits and harms of algorithms and on the landscape of algorithmic auditing and the role of regulators, respectively.

About DRCF

The DRCF consists of four UK regulators: the Competition and Markets Authority, Ofcom, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Financial Conduct Authority, to support regulatory cooperation in digital markets.…

Continue Reading UK regulators publish two discussion papers on algorithmic systems

On 4 May 2022, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) launched a consultation (available here) to request views from the tech industry on potential interventions to enhance security and privacy requirements for firms running app stores and developers making apps.…

Continue Reading Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport launches consultation on app security