Cars preview | Legislative calendar

On February 17, 2017, Parliament called on the Commission to file a legislative proposal establishing a set of civil law rules on robotics and artificial intelligence. These should tackle questions such as the responsibility for the damage caused by a robot, as well as to establish a European robotics and artificial intelligence agency. The resolution of the Parliament is based on article 225 TFEU. The Commission should therefore submit a proposal, as requested by the Parliament, be explained why it refuses to follow the legislative initiative of the Parliament. However, before the Commission submitted a text to Parliament, the legislative procedure cannot officially start.

Unlike other legislative resolutions initiatives of the Parliament adopted in the field of justice (such as those on minimum standards common for civil procedure or limitation periods for accidents), this does not contain a full-fledged directive as Its annex, but is only attached to a certain number of principles that the commission should follow during the preparation of such a text itself (if it decides).

The resolution proposes to introduce a recording system for “ intelligent robots ”, that is to say those who have autonomy thanks to the use of sensors and / or interconnectivity with the environment , who have at least minor physical support, which adapts their behavior and their actions to the environment and which cannot be defined as having a “life” in the biological sense. The advanced robot recording system would be managed by an EU agency for robotics and artificial intelligence. This agency would also provide technical, ethical and regulatory expertise on robotics.

In addition the responsibility must be proportionate to the actual level of instructions given to the robot and its degree of autonomy. The liability rules could be supplemented by a compulsory insurance scheme for robot users and a compensation fund to be paid in cases where no insurance policy covered the risk.

The resolution proposes, as annex, two project of conduct codes – an ethical code of conduct for robotics engineers and a code for research ethics committees. The first code presents four ethical principles in robotics engineering: 1) beneficiary (robots should act in the best interest of humans); 2) Non-mail (robots should not harm humans); 3) Autonomy (human interaction with robots should be voluntary); 4) Justice (the advantages of robotics must be distributed fairly).

The European Commission adopted on May 25, 2018 a communication on artificial intelligence for Europe throwing the European approach to make the most of the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence (AI) and meet the new challenges that AA brought. In addition, the Commission has published a working document on the responsibility of emerging digital technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and autonomous systems and has published a coordinated plan on the Artificial intelligence in December 2018. The Commission indicates that several legislative and non -legislative actions will be proposed to ensure an appropriate technical and legal framework for AI. In April 2019, the high -level group of experts on artificial intelligence published its ethics guidelines for reliable artificial intelligence. In addition, in November 2019, the European Commission’s group of experts on responsibility and new technologies – New Technologies Training (“NTF”) published its report on the responsibility of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies . An orientation document on the interpretation of the product responsibility directive is always expected.

See also the sheet on “Artificial Intelligence” in train 2.

References:

• European Commission, Report on responsibility for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies,, November 2019.
• Ethical guidelines for confidence artificial intelligenceApril 2019
• European Parliament, EPRS, Cost of non-Europe in robotics and artificial intelligenceStoa study, June 2019
• European Commission, Communication on artificial intelligence for EuropeApril 25, 2018
• European Commission, Commission working document on the responsibility of emerging digital technologiesSWD (2018) 137 Final, April 25, 2018.
• European Commission, Coordinated plan of the commission on artificial intelligence, December 7, 2018
• European Parliament, EPRS, Legal and ethical reflections concerning robotics (Stoa Briefing), June 2016
• EP legislative observatory, Civil law rules on robotics2015/2103 (INL)