Digital Single Market and Company Law
Commission presents measures to boost innovation in the Digital Single Market and proposes new rules to help companies move across borders and find online solutions
Digital Single Market
The European Commission presented today a series of new initiatives to complete the Digital Single Market and turn data from different countries, sectors and disciplines into a major source of innovation and growth. The measures include a European approach on artificial intelligence to put this technology at the service of European citizens and boost Europe's competitiveness, while guaranteeing highest European standards for personal data protection.
The Commission proposed a three-pronged approach to increase public and private investments, prepare for socio-economic changes, and ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework.
The EU (public and private sectors) should increase investments in Artificial Intelligence research and innovation by at least €20 billion between now and the end of 2020. To support these efforts, the Commission is increasing its investment to €1.5 billion for the period 2018-2020 under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. This investment is expected to trigger an additional €2.5 billion of funding from existing public-private partnerships, for example on big data and robotics.
In order to address the socio-economic changes brought about by Artificial Intelligence the Commission is encouraging Member States to modernise their education and training systems and support labour market transitions, building on the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The Commission will also ensure an appropriate ethical and legal framework. By the end of 2018, ethical guidelines on Artificial Intelligence will be presented, based on the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights, taking into account principles such as data protection and transparency, and building on the work of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies.
The Commission also proposed to boost the data economy and encourage healthcare data sharing in Europe. The goal is to allow better use of public sector data, by making it more accessible for researchers and SMEs so that they can create new innovative services. With today's proposals, citizens will be able to access and manage their health data more easily. Citizens will have secure, cross-border access to their electronic health records and the possibility of sharing their records across borders. The use of larger data sets through a shared European data infrastructure will be facilitated to prevent diseases, determine personalised medical treatment and better anticipate epidemics. Digital tools will be provided to enable citizens to manage their health more actively within integrated care systems.
Company Law
The Commission proposed new company law rules to make it easier for companies to merge, divide or move within the Single Market. The new rules will also ensure that employees' rights are well protected and tax abuse is prevented. The rules will stimulate the growth potential of European companies by digitalising the process of setting-up and running a business. The new rules are part of the Commission's push for a fairer Single Market. They complement recent initiatives to strengthen the rules on posted workers and the fight against tax evasion and fraud as well as the Commission's proposal on a European Labour Authority. At the same time, the new rules will enable businesses to move or reorganise without unnecessary legal complexities and at a lower cost throughout the Single Market. The Commission estimates cost savings for companies of €12,000 - €19,000 per operation and a total of €176 - €280 million over 5 years.
Multiannual Financial Framework post 2020
The College held a final orientation debate on its proposal for the European Union's next long-term budget which will be presented on 2 May. The Commission will present a proposal for a modern budget for the Union's priorities, fully in line with the Union's positive agenda post-2020, as developed since the Bratislava Summit. The proposal will be inspired by the principles of European Added Value, simplification, transparency, flexibility and focus on performance. The College of Commissioners discussed, in particular, the issue of how best to protect the EU budget when deficiencies in the rule of law in a Member State affect its proper implementation, as well as how to best simplify the way our new budget is funded.
Related links
Press release on artificial intelligence
Q&A on artificial intelligence
Factsheet on artificial intelligence