About the project
EU/EEA legislation on data and artificial intelligence is complex. The complexity is due, among other things, to the high pace of the EU legislative actions, the extensive scope of the legislation, and its highly technical nature. From the perspective of EEA law, there is a large backlog in the implementation of the legislation in the EEA/EFTA states. Differences in the legal situation in Norway and the EU for longer or shorter periods of time may cause disturbances in the internal market and lead to legal uncertainty. Another complicating factor is that the EU/EEA legislation in question is cross-sectoral and interfaces with several other legal acts on, for example, copyright, trade secrets, data protection and information society service providers.
An assertion is that there is a lack of clarity as to how the EU/EEA legal acts interact with each other and with existing legislation, which may cause uncertainty. Uncertainty may also arise in the interpretation, implementation, and application of the legislation as a result of subsequent technological developments, including the need to subsume new phenomena within existing legislation. Regulatory strategies such as Future Proofing and Meta-Regulation may be useful in regulating artificial intelligence and other rapidly evolving technologies. In this context, the use of vague concepts or legal standards may be an appropriate and deliberate choice by the EU legislator, but the regulatory technique can also lead to unpredictability.
Goal
The project seeks to identify specific types of legal uncertainty that arise in the field of technology law in the EEA and explore their underlaying causes. It further examines the implications of this uncertainty for various actors, including national legislators, the EU legislator, and private actors. Additionally, the project aims to propose solutions i.a. on improving regulatory clarity. Beyond this, it strives to offer new insights into how the challenges can be addressed from an EEA perspective.
Background
The thesis will be grounded in theories on legal uncertainty and regulation. The articles in the project will primarily rely on legal doctrinal method. Additionally, qualitative interviews may be conducted.
