Ibán García del Blanco, MEP; y Pilar Ruiz Huélamo, Director of Spanish Chamber of Commerce Delegation to the EU.
Brussels, 03/04/2024.- The Spanish Chamber of Commerce Delegation to the EU held the training seminar "EU Artificial Intelligence Act: towards a sustainable digital future".
In the introduction, Pilar Ruiz Huélamo, Director of the Delegation of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce to the EU, highlighted the Artificial Intelligence Law as a centerpiece of the EU's digital strategy that aims to make this transformation work for people and businesses, while contributing to achieving the goal of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. In this sense, the balance of these five years has been one of intense legislative activity in this vast field: from the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, the European Chips Act, the European Digital Identity Act, the European Data Strategy and finally, the recently approved Artificial Intelligence Act.
The seminar featured a presentation by MEP Ibán García del Blanco, shadow rapporteur of the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs in the processing of this new law, who highlighted, above all, the importance of establishing parameters that guide technological progress with a social conscience. He underlined the efforts made to provide the EU with a legal framework to regulate digitalisation, highlighting the "Brussels effect" and the EU's role in setting a global standard based on its values.
García del Blanco highlighted the EU's three-dimensional strategy focused on investments and recovery plans, education and training to close the digital divide, and a cross-cutting regulatory framework that guides digitalisation in line with European values. This strategy aims to set a "Golden Standard" in EU internal market regulation, following the legacy of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), with a firm focus on user protection and the fight against disinformation.
The new AI Act, which is about to be officially adopted, after addressing some outstanding language issues, is based on a set of rules directly applicable to all Member States. Its development began with the submission of a legislative initiative report in April 2020, proposing an ethical legislative framework for AI, culminating in the proposed law introduced a year later.
García del Blanco underlined the importance of the law as an essential means of regulating the impact of AI on society, protecting democracy, health, the environment, and providing legal certainty. The law introduces a broad definition of AI to encompass future developments, applying to all AI technologies developed or operating within the EU.
The law is based on the balance between benefits and risks. To this end, it adopts a scale of risks and prohibitions to regulate not the technology per se, but its use. This ensures that the protection of fundamental rights remains at the heart of the law.
The law includes a list of use cases considered high-risk, which are additionally qualified in case they represent a risk of harm to health, safety or fundamental rights. Within this list we find cases such as technology that has the possibility of influencing electoral processes. For these, the developers themselves must declare them as such and, in addition, they must undergo an impact assessment. The law also specifically prohibits certain uses of AI, such as real-time biometric identification under certain conditions.
However, the law provides for three exceptional cases in which the safeguards of this rule do not apply: the search for victims of trafficking in persons, the prevention of terrorist threats, and the identification of criminals.
In any case, García del Blanco pointed out that 85% of the AI used in the EU does not present significant risks to fundamental rights, but the treatment of generative AIs has been especially controversial, given its novelty at the time of the proposed law. For this reason, the new standard includes transparency obligations and, for models that present a systemic risk, additional requirements such as prior assessments and cybersecurity measures.
For its part, AI governance will be organised at both national and European level, with a system of registration and penalties for non-compliance.
The law also supports innovation through the creation of regulatory sandboxes in each Member State, facilitating access to AI technology for SMEs and startups. Spain was the first member state to create a sandbox with the aim, among other things, of facilitating access for SMEs. In the future, García del Blanco anticipates the development of additional regulations and the negotiation of a directive on the civil liability of AI during the next legislature, underlining the EU's continued commitment to balanced and ethical regulation of artificial intelligence.
As for its implementation, the law establishes a timeline that begins with its entry into force in mid-2024 and extends until mid-2026, when the rules on high-risk uses of AI will be fully applied. This legislative framework positions the EU as a leader in the ethical and responsible regulation of AI technology, balancing innovation with the protection of citizens' fundamental rights and security.
After the speaker's speech, there was a question and answer session.
He highlighted the online participation of the Territorial Chambers of Commerce of Badajoz, Girona, Tarragona, Valencia and Zaragoza.
You can check the photos of this seminar in the following link.