The European Commission (EC) Recommendation of 1.3.2018 on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online (C(2018) 1177 final) is now freely accessible. As readers know, this is not the first time the EC has attempted to express meaningful thoughts (for lack of a better word, as once again the instrument is not strictly speaking … Continue reading
In three-month time, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), will become applicable to many, if not all, data processing activities to which living individuals can be associated. Businesses operating in Europe have had about two years to prepare for this change. As readers know, even if the GDPR is a lengthy piece of … Continue reading
Boosting the EU Digital Single Market is not an easy task. Full of energy, the European Commission (EC) disclosed its strategy one year ago in the Communication on Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market, in which it announced that “in the next copyright package, to be adopted in the autumn of 2016, the Commission … Continue reading
In its own way, the pan-EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (Art. 29 WP) has been very active in the past few months. One of the most awaited piece of advice released by Art. 29 WP this month covers automated individual decision-making and profiling for the purposes of Regulation 2016/679 (Opinion WP 251). Why … Continue reading
Among the policy objectives to pursue in order to ensure the flourishing of the Digital Single Market, one finds here: “Updating EU audiovisual rules and working with platforms to create a fairer environment for everyone, promote European films, protect children and tackle hate speech.” Clicking on ‘platforms,’ one can also read: “Online platforms are an important part of … Continue reading
Intermediary liability has been up until now a never-ending story. For the past two years, we have been regularly fed with communications, codes of conduct, legislative proposals, as well as soft but loud encouragements, from national governments targeting online platforms and asking them to do much more to tackle illegal content such as child sexual … Continue reading
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be applicable in less than a year, and experts are still discussing the extent to which the new regulation will have a significant impact upon the ‘legal basis’ requirement. However, as Bob Miller suggests in this guest blog post, it might not be enough to read and re-read … Continue reading
The proposal to extend the Audiovisiual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) continues along its legislative path. We are now entering the trilogue negotiations phase, and, after having read the unrelated [at least at first glance] G7 Taormina Statement on the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, I am re-reading the text of the Proposal for a … Continue reading
Advocate General Szpunar (AG) delivered yesterday his opinion in the highly political and much awaited case C‑434/15 Asociación Profesional Elite Taxi v Uber Systems Spain SL. In a nutshell, the AG was asked to answer four questions concerning two important milestones of the European Union (EU) acquis: the E-commerce Directive of 2000 and the services … Continue reading
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered its awaited judgment on 4 May in the case Valsts policijas Rīgas reģiona pārvaldes Kārtības policijas pārvalde v Rīgas pašvaldības SIA ‘Rīgas satiksme’, answering two related questions: ‘(1) Must the phrase ‘is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the … third party … Continue reading
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