Digital technologies make it easy to remove border barriers and encourage the development of cross-border e-commerce. The economic stakes of digital technologies, such as smart contracts, blockchains, autonomous cars or even e-health, are such that the European Union must implement rules to encourage and stimulate innovation and competition, in order to be well-positioned in the global competition that is opening up.
While at first glance the digital single market may appear as a simple extension to the digital environment of the internal market, Professor Castets-Renard's book shows that in reality, its scope is much greater, insofar as it concerns the regulation of content, the use of technologies to facilitate exchanges within and outside the European Union, and also the infrastructures necessary for the development of digital technologies. Today, digital technology is first and foremost the preferred tool for completing the internal market.
The digital regulation choices made by the European institutions show a desire to protect the social values and fundamental rights enshrined in the European Union Charter, such as the protection of personal data and privacy. The adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation is the quintessence of this European approach and testifies to the impact that the European Union could have on the regulation of digital technology on a global scale. The book thus gives an account of the material dimension of the digital single market, as well as the institutional and conceptual dimensions of artificial intelligence.
The book is available from Éditions Bruylant at Larcier.com (in French only.)
A Faculty member at the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology, and Society, Dr. Céline Castets-Renard is a full professor in the Faculty of Law, Law Section and holds the University Research Chair in Accountable Artificial Intelligence in a Global World.