European experts against the creation of a legal status for robots

 

With artificial intelligence applications developing and being rolled out fast, the European Commission is currently working on the development of a new area of the law focused on robotics. This could go as far as including the creation of a specific legal status for robots. However, hundreds of members of civil society are opposed to the creation of an "electronic person" which could make an "intelligent" machine independently responsible for damages.

Two hundred European experts have recently co-signed an open letter against the creation of a legal status for robots. This letter, addressed to the European Commission, highlights the concern and opposition of AI experts on the creation of a legal electronic person and focuses specifically on the European Parliament Resolution on Civil law rules of robotics and its recommendation to the European Commission in its paragraph 59 f): "Creating a specific legal status for robots in the long run, so that at least the most sophisticated autonomous robots could be established as having the status of electronic persons responsible for making good any damage they may cause, and possibly applying electronic personality to cases where robots make autonomous decisions or otherwise interact with third parties independently (...)."

 

The signatories of this open letter criticize the notion of electronic personality, whether based on the notion of natural persons, legal entities or legal trust. 

We will keep following the discussions around the development of the law on robotics...

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(1) Robotics-openletter.eu, Open letter to the European Commission – Artificial intelligence and Robotics

Photo © ClaudeAI.uk (https://claudeai.uk/ai-blog/ )

Bénédicte DELEPORTE
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Deleporte Wentz Avocat
www.dwavocat.com

April 2018

Network security - the NIS directive was transposed in French law

 

The directive concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union ("NIS Directive") was transposed in French law on 26 February 2018. (1)

The new law provides additional obligations regarding digital security. (2)
 

Two new types of companies are identified

   - Operators of essential services  (OES) (which are globally equivalent to the French definition of operators of vital importance (opérateurs d’importance vitale - OIV). These include companies operating in essential areas such as: energy, transportation, banking, financial markets infrastructures, health, production and distribution of potable water and the providers of digital infrastructures, and

   - Digital services providers (DSPs) which include companies providing cloud computing services, market places, search engines services, etc.

 

These companies will have to implement the cybersecurity measures set up by the National Agency for Information Systems Security (Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d’information - ANSSI). They will have to notify the ANSSI in case of security incidents which may have a significant impact on the continuity of the services provided. 

 

Any failure to secure the networks, to declare a security incident or in case of blocking a control procedure, will be subject to fines between €75,000  and €125,000 for the OES, the amount of the fine depending on the type of violation, and fines between €50,000 and €100,000 for DSPs.

 

A decree specifying the list of OES and FSEs operating in the French territory should be published before 9 November 2018.

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(1) Directive (EU) 2016/1148 of the Europen Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2016 concerning measures for a high common level of security of network and information systems across the Union ("NIS Directive") 

(2) Law #2018-133 of 26 February 2018 including several provisions adapting French law to European Union law in the area of security (Loi n°2018-133 du 26 février 2018 portant diverses dispositions d'adaptation au droit de l'Union européenne dans le domaine de la sécurité)

Bénédicte DELEPORTE

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Deleporte Wentz Avocat

Mars 2018

Publication of 3 new decrees to improve the transparency of digital platforms

In order to improve the users' trust in digital services, and further to the publication of the Digital Republic Act ("Loi pour une République numérique") (1), three decrees to improve the transparency of digital platforms were published on 29 September 2017. (2) These decrees cover search engines, social networks, and comparison websites as well as market places and collaborative economy websites.

1. From 1st January 2018, platforms which generate revenue from third party content, goods or services, e.g. search engines and comparison websites must publish the criteria used for referencing and dereferencing content, as well as the criteria used for the results rankings. These websites will also have to show how their revenue is related to the order in which contents are displayed.

Collaboration platforms must include a section accessible from all the pages of the website providing information about the profile of the users selling goods or services (consumers or professional sellers), how buyers and sellers get connected to each other, the commission due to the platform for the connection between the users, etc. Such information is usually detailed in the platform's terms and conditions.  

B-to-C platforms must provide a section to allow professional sellers to post the mandatory data required pursuant to articles L.221-5 et seq. of the consumer code (i.e. description of the good or of the service proposed, price, delivery time, contact details, legal warranty, whether the buyer has a withdrawal right, dispute resolution conditions, etc.).  

Finally, websites which publish consumer reviews must specify whether the reviews are verified, and if so, how they are verified. When the reviews are verified, the website operator must insure that the personal data of the contributors are processed in compliance with the data privacy law (loi Informatique et Libertés).

2. From 1st January 2019, platforms with an average of over 5 million unique visitors per month will have to apply good practice in terms of clarity, transparency and loyalty. These rules, which must be accessible online, correspond to the general obligation to provide precontractual information pursuant to articles L.111-1 et seq. of the consumer code.

 

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(1) Loi #2016-1321 of 7 October 2016 for a Digital Republic (loi pour une république numérique)

(2) Decree #2017-1434 of 29 September 2017 regarding information obligations by digital platform operators; Decree #2017-1435 of 29 September 2017 regarding a connection threshold above which digital platform operators develop and post good practices to improve loyalty, clarity and transparency of the data provided to consumers; Decree #2017-1436 of 29 September 2017 regarding information obligations on online consumer reviews (Décret n°2017-1434 du 29 septembre 2017 relatif aux obligations d'information des opérateurs de plateformes numériques ; Décret n°2017-1435 du 29 septembre 2017 relatif à la fixation d'un seuil de connexions à partir duquel les opérateurs de plateformes en ligne élaborent et diffusent des bonnes pratiques pour renforcer la loyauté, la clarté et la transparence des informations transmises aux consommateurs ; Décret n°2017-1436 du 29 septembre 2017 relatif aux obligations d'information relatives aux avis en ligne de consommateurs)


Bénédicte DELEPORTE
Avocat

Deleporte Wentz Avocat
www.dwavocat.com

February 2018