Dispatch from Brussels: Updates on EU tech policy 

GDPR: On 8 May the two key EU independent data protection authorities, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published a joint letter reviewing the Commission’s draft GDPR proposal, offering preliminary support for the Commission’s targeted simplification initiative (which we have yet to see) while urging the Commission to ensure proportionate and fair balance between the protection of personal data and the interests of organisations with less than 500 employees. We are expecting to know more about the EU’s GDPR simplification plans after the summer (with the publishing on the EU’s Data Strategy)

AI Liability Directive, and Standard Essential Patents: On 8 May, Bernd Lange the chair of the European Parliament’s (EP) top coordination body (the Conference of the Committee Chairs) sent a letter to EP president Metsola, calling on her to formally oppose the European Commission’s move to drop four pieces of legislation from its 2025 Work Programme. The letter specifically argues that the withdrawal of the AI liability Directive would risk “fragmenting the Ai internal market”. This follows a letter sent last month by Member of European Parliament Axel Voss (who had been appointed as the main rapporteur for the file), and Brando Benifei (Rapporteur for the AI Act) calling on bring back the AI liability Directive.

Single Market

Chips Act: On 28 April, the European Court of Auditors released a critical report on the Chips Act. As a reminder, the Act which has been in application since 21 September 2023, is meant to strengthen the EU’s semiconductor ecosystem and increase its global market share in advanced semiconductors. The informative Court of Auditors report concludes that the EU is highly unlikely to significantly increase its share of the microchips market, or to meet its objective of 20% of global output.

Cybersecurity

NIS Directive: On 9 May, the European Commission sent a formal notice to 17 EU Member States calling on them to fully transpose the national security law piece into their national laws. As a reminder, Member States were meant to fully transpose the legislation by 9 May 2018. The formal notice was sent to Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Spain. This notice, should there be a lack of action by the Member States within the coming months, can lead to the matter being sent to EU courts

Quantum

Quantum Strategy: The European Commission is expected to publish its EU Quantum Strategy over the coming weeks with the aim to align diverging national strategies. Spain and Finland recently published their own national strategies on quantum. The Netherlands, France and Germany also have national level strategies, providing diverging incentives for quantum research and commercial deployment

Platforms

Digital Services Act: On 7 May the European Commission referred Czechia, Spain, Cyprus, Poland, and Portugal to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over their failure to fully implement the Digital Services Act (DSA), signalling a commitment to enforcing uniform digital governance across the EU. This move by the Commission will be a test of its ability to ensure proper enforcement of the DSA which came into effect on 17 February 2024.

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