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Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs)
On 29 November 2023, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a compromise on the proposed directive to protect journalists and human rights activists from abusive cross- border civil proceedings, known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs). The directive's aim is to enable judges to identify SLAPPs and order their early dismissal, and thus spare the journalists or activists targeted by such proceedings the need to defend the manifestly unfounded claim brought ...
Cyber solidarity act
Russia's war against Ukraine has revealed the extent of our dependency on digital technology and the fragility of the digital space. It has triggered a surge in cyberattacks that have been particularly disruptive when targeting critical infrastructure – such as energy, health or finance – because of the increasing reliance on information technology, rendering this infrastructure all the more vulnerable. Against this backdrop, the Commission has proposed a regulation on a cyber solidarity act that ...
Digitalising cross-border judicial cooperation
On 23 November 2023, the European Parliament approved the compromise reached with the Council in July 2023 on the European Commission proposal for a horizontal regulation on digitalisation of judicial cooperation and access to justice, intended to apply to both civil and criminal cross-border proceedings within the EU. The regulation, proposed back in December 2021, will supplement horizontally, rather than replace, existing rules on the digital delivery of documents, digital hearings and other uses ...
European media freedom act
An independent media is a pillar of democracy and an important part of the economy, helping to shape public opinion and hold those in power to account. In recent years, however, there have been increasingly worrying trends across the European Union (EU), as documented in the annual rule of law reports by the European Commission, and by other tools such as the Media Pluralism Monitor. Tabled on 16 September 2022, the proposed European media freedom act (EMFA) would introduce a new set of rules to ...
Cross-border exchange of information on road safety-related traffic offences
Road safety has improved significantly in the EU, with the number of road fatalities falling by more than 60 % in the last 20 years. However, improvements in road safety have fallen short of the EU goals of decreasing the number of road deaths by 50 % between 2001 and 2010, and by an additional 50 % between 2011 and 2020. Directive (EU) 2015/413 facilitating cross-border exchange of information on road safety-related traffic offences – the Cross-border Enforcement (CBE) Directive – is one of the ...
European health data space
The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the growing importance of digital health technologies, both to enable remote medical care and to facilitate the health response by international, national and local authorities. At the same time, personal health data have been key for containment measures such as the EU digital COVID certificate. The Commission's May 2022 proposal for a regulation on a European health data space aims to improve individuals' access to and control of their electronic personal ...
Open SLAPP Cases in 2022 and 2023
This study was commissioned by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament to analyse SLAPP cases and threats which were initiated in 2022 and 2023. The study provides a detailed analysis of the topics of public interest associated with the identified legal actions or legal threats, the cross-border implications of the public interest matter under dispute and, to the extent possible, information about victims, the cause of action, and litigation tactics ...
European media freedom act
In September 2022, the European Commission proposed a regulation establishing a common framework for media services in the internal market (the 'European Media Freedom Act'). During the October I plenary session, Parliament is scheduled to vote on the report from its Committee on Culture and Education (CULT). The report as voted would then form Parliament's position for interinstitutional negotiations with the Council, which agreed its position in June 2023.
The US cybersecurity posture under Biden
In view of the rising frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks hitting United States (US) targets and entailing widespread disruption of critical infrastructure, significant economic loss, and sensitive content and personal data leaks, the Biden administration has taken a series of steps to bolster the US cybersecurity posture since early 2021. Adding to President Biden's 2021 Executive Order on cybersecurity and 2022 Congressional legislation, the 2023 US National Cybersecurity Strategy lays ...
Artificial intelligence, democracy and elections
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a powerful tool thanks to technological advances, access to large amounts of data, machine learning and increased computing power. The release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 was a new breakthrough in AI. It demonstrated the vast range of possibilities involved in adapting general-purpose AI to a wide array of tasks and in getting generative AI to generate synthetic content based on prompts entered by the user. In a just a few years' time, a very large share ...