Introduction
Digital technology is changing people’s lives. The EU’s digital strategy aims to make this transformation work for people and businesses, while helping to achieve its target of a climate-neutral Europe by 2050.
The Commission is determined to make this Europe's “Digital Decade”. Europe must now strengthen its digital sovereignty and set standards, rather than following those of others – with a clear focus on data, technology, and infrastructure.
Highlight
Political agreement reached on Digital Services Act
23 April 2022 - The European Parliament and EU Member States have reached a political agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA), a proposal put forward by the Commission in December 2020. The DSA sets out an unprecedented new standard for accountability of online platforms, better protecting internet users and their fundamental rights. Once the new rules are formally adopted, the DSA will be directly applicable across the EU entering into force after 15 months or from 1 January 2024, whichever comes later.
Actions
Background
Since 2014, the Commission has taken a number of steps to facilitate the development of a data-agile economy, such as
- the Regulation on the free flow of non-personal data
- the Cybersecurity Act
- the Open Data Directive
- the General Data Protection Regulation
In 2018, the Commission presented an AI strategy for the first time, and agreed a coordinated plan with Member States. The High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence presented their Ethics Guidelines on trustworthy AI in April 2019. This was built upon the framework for AI presented on 19 February 2020.
In her Political Guidelines, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed the need to lead the transition to a healthy planet and a new digital world. In that context, she kick-started the debate on ethical Artificial Intelligence and the use of big data to create wealth for societies and businesses during her first 100 days in office.