Automated Decision-Making and the Precautionary Principle in EU Law

Abstract

The article is predicated upon the allegation that there is a similarity between the scientific uncertainty linked to the hazard which human interventions pose to the natural environment and the hazard which the development of automated decision-making techniques poses to certain aspects of human lives in the digital environment. On the basis of this allegation, the analysis examines the similarities between the European environmental law, which is crucial for the natural environment, and the European data protection law, which is fundamental for the digital environment. As there are measures already adopted by the data protection law from the environmental law, such as impact assessments and the right to access information, the main hypothesis of this analysis is to consider whether there are further inspirations for the development of European data protection law which could be drawn from environmental law, regarding the scientific uncertainty which is common to these two areas of regulation. The article examines a legal measure, namely, the precautionary principle, as the conjectural response to the challenges linked to the development of the new technologies. The experiences collected in the area of environmental law concerning the precautionary principle are analysed as a source of lessons to be learned concerning the regulatory measures adopted in order to deal with scientific uncertainty, not only in the natural environment, but also in the digital one.

La Función Preventiva De Los Daños Causados Por La Robótica Y Los Sistemas Autónomos

“…La certificación y el control adecuado del funcionamiento de los RSA, que también serán realizados por el centro algorítmico; ello garantizará la trazabilidad de los resultados. Así, por ejemplo, el White paper On Artificial Intelligence -An European approach to excellence and 64 Ver Mazur (2019). 65 Gran parte de los riesgos más graves de los SADC están relacionados con la violación de los derechos humanos, como: la autonomía, la igualdad de acceso a la asistencia sanitaria y la privacidad.…”

AI-Based Decisiona and Disappearance of Law

“…Potentially, it might become aware of itself, becoming very similar to a human being in that it can be regarded as a moral agent. If "artificial agents extend the class of entities that can be involved in moral situations", 36 could they be seen as responsible? Will at least part of the moral responsibility lie with AI?…”

“…Responsibility implies that we must establish what harm was caused and who must compensate for it. In legal cases where there is no subject 36 of responsibility, there are at least compensation mechanisms (most often imposed on the state, sometimes on companies that produced the dangerous equipment or mistakenly released a defective batch of goods). In the case of AI, we have problems not only in establishing the subject of responsibility, but also in understanding and compensating for harm.…”

Personal Data Protection in the Decision-Making of the CJEU Before and After the Lisbon Treaty

“…A crucial legislative act in EU law, which has also affected the legislation of Member States, is Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (hereafter GDPR). This regulation is also well known to the general public thanks to a (both positive and negative) media campaign (Mazur, 2019). The aim of this regulation, and in fact the aim of all the EU legislation on personal data protection, is to contribute to the completion of the space of freedom, safety and law, an economic union, economic and social progress, strengthening and bringing closer economies within the internal market and to good living conditions of natural persons (point 2 of the GDPR).…”

“…The processing of personal data by governments and the private sector has increased exponentially in recent years, as has the need for legal protection for personal data (Kesa & Kerikmäe, 2020). There is no doubt that personal data protection in the internal market is an important activity of the EU and it concerns several topics-protection of human rights, functioning of the internal market or digitization (Mazur, 2019). In primary law, personal data protection is regulated in Article 16 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which suggests that everyone has the right to the protection of their own personal data, and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU (EU CFR), which regulates personal data protection in Article 8(1).…”