Εργαστήρια

The presentations were followed by a "questions & answers" session with the Members of the JURI Committee.

Artificial intelligence (AI) raises a number of ethical and political challenges for the present and near future, with driverless cars and search engines in the news. Potential issues range from job disruption to privacy violations. Over a longer term, if AI becomes as or more intelligent than humans, other governance issues such as safety and control may increase in importance. What policy approaches make sense across different issues and timeframes?

The first part of the workshop focused on basic ethical and policy questions raised by the development of robotics and AI, on the basis of presentations by experts. This was followed by a discussion with national parliamentarians on what the legislator should do and at which level, with the European Parliament's draft legislative initiative report on "Civil Law Rules on Robotics" as a basis.

As such, it is inextricably linked with the fundamental right to a fair trial and effective remedy guaranteed under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 47 CFREU) and the European Convention on Human Rights (Article 6 ECHR).

The Treaty of Amsterdam confirmed the EU’s competence in the area of civil procedure, and this competence was further expanded by the Treaty of Lisbon. The EU now has a certain number of common minimum standards in the area of criminal procedure. However, European citizens, especially those who move across borders, are now far more likely to come into contact with the civil procedure of another Member State. As part of the move towards a European Area of Justice based on mutual trust, common standards of civil procedure now seem indispensable.

Minimum standards do not substitute national procedural systems in their entirety, or even partially, but allow for more protective and effective national procedural rules. More importantly, minimum procedural standards at EU level could contribute to the modernisation of national proceedings, to a level playing field for businesses, and to increased economic growth via effective and efficient judicial systems, while facilitating citizens’ access to justice in the EU.

In the Action Plan implementing the Stockholm Programme, the Commission announced a green paper on minimum standards for civil procedure for 2013. What is more, in May 2014 a joint project for the preparation of ‘Transnational Principles of Civil Procedure for Europe’ was launched by the European Law Institute, in collaboration with the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT).

Against this background, this workshop will bring together Members of the European Parliament and a number of experts, practitioners, academics and stakeholders with a view to discussing the question of the convergence of civil procedure in Europe through the creation of minimum standards in EU law. It will also offer the possibility to present the findings of a recent European Added Value Study conducted by the Research Service of the European Parliament regarding the policy options and the scope of EU competences to harmonise civil procedures in the EU. The Commission, the ELI, the ENCJ, the HCCH as well as representatives of legal professions and businesses will offer their views on this matter.

The workshop is organised by DG IPOL's Policy Department C from 09.00 to 12.30 in room ASP 1G2 at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Establishment and registering of a new companies should be possible also much faster, some propose even within 24 hours.

Digitalisation of public live in the last years will also influence modifications of the legal framework of Company Law. Challenges in this context for companies and public authorities in the years to come might be therefore interconnected electronic business registers between states and communication with share-holders and company owners exclusively online. The workshop by PolDep C, "The Future of European Company Law", will host various independent external experts on those issues, invited to contribute to a discussion during a meeting of the committee.  on Legal Affairs ( JURI) on 14 June by submitting briefing papers and to come to Brussels to engage with MEPs on the Future of European Company Law.

In the second part of the workshop "The Future of European Company Law", questions concerning "Ongoing issues in International Corporate Governance" will be discussed.

In the third part, cross-border operations like mergers, transfers and divisions will be on the agenda. As to divisions, there is still no EU level framework for cross-border divisions and companies wishing to undertake a cross-border division have to perform several operations, such as a national division and a cross-border merger. As to cross-border conversions the EP had recommended in 2012 that the EU legislator should expand the Cross-Border Mergers Directive into a real cross-border mobility directive, which covers not only cross-border mergers and cross-border divisions, but also transfers of seats.