The European Approach to Building AI Policy and Governance: A Haven for Bureaucrats or Innovators?

Resumen: La Directiva 2010/13/UE, de Servicios de Comunicación Audiovisual (DSCA) establece la regulación europea vigente sobre emplazamiento de producto. Algunas de sus previsiones son principios que resultan difíciles de aplicar en la práctica (“prominencia indebida”, “influencia que afecta a la independencia editorial del prestador de servicios”). Asimismo, el emplazamiento de producto, por su propia naturaleza, no puede distinguirse con facilidad de la publicidad encubierta. El 25 de mayo de 2016, la Comisión Europea hizo pública una propuesta legislativa para modificar la Directiva de servicios de comunicación audiovisual que incide sobre esta materia. Este artículo examina el régimen de la DSCA sobre emplazamiento de producto y las modificaciones proyectadas. La principal conclusión alcanzada es que la propuesta de Directiva publicada por la Comisión podría dificultar aún más la interpretación y aplicación del régimen jurídico de esta figura.Palabras clave: comunicación comercial audiovisual, emplazamiento de producto, publicidad encubierta, competencia desleal.Abstract: The Directive 2010/13/EU on Audiovisual Media Services (AVMSD) provides the EU current rules on product placement. Some of its provisions are standards, so that they may be difficult to apply (“undue prominence”, “influence that affects the editorial independence of the media service provider”). By its very nature, product placement cannot be clearly distinguished from surreptitious advertising. On 25 May 2016 the European Commission published a legislative proposal for amending the AVMS Directive that affects this issue. The research article examines the rules on product placement under the AVMSD and the proposed amendments. The main conclusion is the proposal published by the EU Commission would not make the rules on product placement clearer and easier to apply.Keywords: audiovisual commercial communication, product placement, surreptitious advertising, unfair competition.

A new approach is provided in our paper for creating a strategic early warningsystem allowing the estimation of the future state of the milk market as scenarios. This is inline with the recent call from the EU commission for tools that help to better address such ahighly volatile market. We applied different multivariate time series regression and Bayesiannetworks on a pre-determined map of relations between macro-economic indicators. Theevaluation of our findings with root mean square error (RMSE) performance score enhancesthe robustness of the prediction model constructed. Our model could be used by competitiveintelligence teams to obtain sharper scenarios, leading companies and public organisations tobetter anticipate market changes and make more robust decisions.

In a resolution adopted on 1 February 2018, the European Committee of the Regions noted that a legislative proposal of the European Commission concerning a Regulation that changes the rules governing the EU regional funds for 2014-2020 did not comply with the principle of subsidiarity. Accordingly, the Committee considered challenging the legislative proposal before the Court of Justice if the proposal was formally agreed upon. Although at a later stage the European Commission decided to take into account the Committee’s argument and amended the proposal accordingly, such a context offers the chance to investigate more in detail the role of the Committee of the Regions in the legislative process of the EU and, more in particular, its role as a watchdog of the principle of subsidiarity. This paper aims to shed light on a rather neglected aspect of the EU constitutional practice, such as the potential of the Committee of the Regions to contribute to the legislative process, and answer the question of whether this Committee is the right body to guarantee compliance with the principle of subsidiarity.

AbstractAn urban mobility transition requires a transition in space allocation, since most mobility modes are dependent on urban open space for circulation and the storage of vehicles. Despite increasing attention to space and spatiality in transitions research, the finite, physical aspects of urban space, and the means by which it is allocated, have not been adequately acknowledged as an influence on mobility transitions. A conceptual framework is introduced to support comparison between cities in terms of the processes by which open space is (re-)distributed between car and bicycle circulatory and regulatory space. This framework distinguishes between regulatory allocation mechanisms and the appropriation practices of actors. Application to cases in Amsterdam, Brussels and Birmingham reveal unique relationships created by the zero-sum nature of urban open space between the dominant automobility mode and subordinate cycling mode. These relationships open up a new approach to forms of lock-in that work in favour of particular mobility modes within the relatively obdurate urban built environment. Empirically, allocation mechanisms that routinise the production of car space at national level within the EU are shown to be far more prevalent than those for bicycle space, highlighting the constraints faced by radical city-level policies aimed at space reallocation.

Amidst a growing interest from European Union (EU) Member States, the European Commission recently announced that it would put forward a legislative proposal for the adoption of a harmonised and mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme at the EU level. The present contribution discusses the implications of such an adoption, taking a behavioural, legal and policy angle. It introduces first the concept of front-of-pack nutrition labelling and the existing evidence regarding its effects on consumer behaviour and dietary habits. It then presents the legal framework currently applicable to (front-of-pack) nutrition labelling in the EU and discusses some of the main political and practical aspects involved with the development of a common EU front-of-pack label.