Europe has achieved much in terms of digital policy this year. Landmark pieces of legislation, such as the long-awaited Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act have been agreed and enter into force from October. Nevertheless, digital policy still remains critical at the European level.
In her recent State of the Union speech, Ursula von der Leyen announced two key initiatives for digital in 2023: an initiative regulating the metaverse and a bolster of European Strategic Autonomy including securing and processing raw materials, key to Europe’s ambitions on semi-conductors and chips. Similarly, in the current context of the energy crisis and following the announcement on electricity market reforms, the Commission will also put forward an Action Plan on the Digitalisation of the Energy System this month.
More immediately under the Czech and Swedish Presidencies, we can expect negotiations on key files such as the Data Act, AI Act and Chips Act to continue to be hashed out by member states and the European Parliament.
Moving towards the first half of 2023, there will be talks around highly anticipated payments legislation, with the review of the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the Open Finance proposal, and, later, the instant payments proposal, which is expected in late October. To complement the AI Act, the Commission will be coming forward with a proposal to revise current civil liability laws in light of new technologies like AI, expected at the end of this month.
Upcoming digital policy decisions will have a cross-sectoral impact, whether in the healthcare, banking or energy sector. The difficulty for policy makers in these negotiations will be striking the right balance between regulation and innovation, finding a way to protect citizens but avoid stifling technological developments.
To stay up to date with everything on the horizon, you can download our latest timeline, which highlights key digital policies in the coming months.
Download here.
