The EU is adapting its policymaking systems to meet the conditions of the new coronavirus world.
The map above is available from Wikimedia and shows coronavirus outbreak density across Europe as of April 6, 2020. Maps like this use data aggregated from multiple health organizations and are enabled by developers like you. More information can be found here.
The EU institutions are trying to operate efficiently in the new context of coronavirus and switch to teleworking. Even high-level formal meetings are held through video conferencing, like the Commissions’ College meetings, European Parliament’s plenaries (MEPs voting remotely) and European Council’s meetings.
Conferences and other meetings were canceled or postponed following social distancing measures. Many organizers are shifting to online environments. The usual busy season in Brussels has been replaced by a struggle to keep information and communication flowing with the help of online tools.
We are sticking to our mission and staying in touch with the EU policymakers and regulators, making sure to point out the impact on developers’ businesses when they’re preparing new rules affecting software development.
Finally, don’t forget: Stay at home, keep distance, wash your hands, and call your mom.
In This Update
Special Measures Abound
The EU Commission to Identify and Address Single Market Barriers
How to Make a Sustainable and Digital Europe?
The European Commission and Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications
Streaming CEOs Respond to Thierry Breton
More Relevant Now Than Ever
Poland Demands Selfies From Quarantine-ers
Thierry Breton Asks if GDPR and Coronavirus are Compatible?
The European Data Protection Authorities Say Yes
European Data Protection Supervisor Rethinks After Gamechanger
EU/UK Data-Sharing Legal Framework Found Inadequate
Police-Held Database of Faces, DNA, Fingerprints, and Vehicles Requested
Swedish DPA Investigates Facial Recognition
Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group, and Tripadvisor Reach EU Agreement
France Shuffles Privacy Initiatives
Cybersecurity Tools; More Important Than Ever
EU Agency for Cybersecurity Presses Forward
The Foresight of Brussels’ CYBERSEC Leaders
Tech For Good & Government Hackathons
WirVsVirus Hackathon
Hack The Crisis
Industry Self Regulation Working In Germany
EU Transparency Explainer Published
The 2020 Datathon is Only a Month Away
SMEs to Receive Free Access to eTranslation
Would You Call Yourself a ‘Clicwalker’?
How Does Digitalisation Impact Your Daily Life?
Action Plan Supports Right to Repair
Small Business Support
Special Measures Abound
The EU and its Member States are providing state aid and adopting special measures to help their economies to cope with the negative impact of the crisis. Many of those measures are targeting small businesses, like the recently approved €1.3 billion Danish scheme to compensate self-employed or France’s intention to roll out a €4 billion package “to support the liquidity of startups”. The European Commission approved, among others, UK schemes to support SMEs affected by the novel coronavirus (according to the Withdrawal Agreement, during the transition period EU law, including rules on state aid, continues to apply to the UK as if it were a Member State.)
The EU Commission to Identify and Address Single Market Barriers
Before the crisis, on March 10, the EU Commission presented the Industrial Policy Package. This contains a new Industrial Strategy, an SME Strategy, a Communication on identifying and addressing barriers to the Single Market and a Long-term Action Plan for better implementation and enforcement of single market rules.
How to Make a Sustainable and Digital Europe?
Some of the measures proposed by the SME Strategy for sustainable and digital Europe are targeting startups and scale-ups, like the EU Start-up Nations Standard initiative. The strategy will focus on making it easier to scale and expand across borders, streamline the implementation of the rules on procedures for visa applications and residence permits for third-country talent, and promote cross-border digital tools. Additionally, it makes the granting of employee stock options more attractive, promotes venture-building and tech transfer from universities, and increases access to finance for scaling-up. Finally, the Commission noted it was open to supporting regulatory sandboxes, which allow innovators to develop their ideas with fewer regulatory constraints.
Internet Connectivity
The European Commission and Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications
(BEREC) have issued a joint statement on how to cope with the increased traffic load due to the COVID-19 pandemic and set up a special reporting mechanism in order to monitor the Internet traffic situation in each Member State and be able to respond to any crisis of supply on the telecom network.
Streaming CEOs Respond to Thierry Breton
The CEO’s of major video streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook) responded to the direct calls of Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton to reduce streaming bandwidth in order to help broadband systems cope with the increase in demand caused by anti-Coronavirus measures. The French Commissioner asked European consumers to stream content in standard instead of high definition, “to secure Internet access for all.” All of the streaming services agreed to reduce quality to standard definition when possible and use adaptive bandwidth technologies to reduce network strain.
Data & Privacy
More Relevant Now Than Ever
All over Europe, at national, regional or local levels, authorities are developing apps to inform the population but also as surveillance tools to collect data and information from the population and monitor citizens’ movements. Such apps are already deployed in Poland, Spain, Slovakia, and Italy.
In the UK a similar app is in the works but has not yet launched. Other states, like Austria, Italy, Germany or Belgium, are collecting anonymized location data from telecom operators and creating movement maps.
Poland Demands Selfies From Quarantine-ers
The most intrusive app so far in Europe seems to be the “selfie app” launched by the Polish authorities, called “Home Quarantine”, which is compulsory for people quarantining for 14 days after returning from abroad. The users should periodically send selfies of themselves on request to prove they’re sticking to their quarantine. If they don’t respond to a request for a selfie within 20 minutes, then the police will be alerted.
Thierry Breton Asks if GDPR and Coronavirus are Compatible?
Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton asked European telecom CEOs to share anonymized and aggregated metadata to combat coronavirus. The approach was approved by the EU Data Protection Supervisor, which appreciated that “ data protection rules currently in force in Europe are flexible enough to allow for various measures taken in the fight against pandemics.” The European Data Protection Board (EPDB) issued, on March 19th, a formal statement on the processing of personal data in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The European Data Protection Authorities Say Yes
The European Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) stated that “the GDPR allows competent public health authorities and employers to process personal data in the context of an epidemic, in accordance with national law and within the conditions set therein.” The national laws implementing the ePrivacy Directive apply for the processing of electronic communication data, such as mobile location data; location data can be processed if it is anonymized, or if consent is obtained. When anonymization isn’t possible, the ePrivacy Directive enables national governments to introduce emergency provisions that protect national security and public security. EPDB warned that “if such measures are introduced, a Member State is obliged to put in place adequate safeguards, such as granting individuals the right to judicial remedy.”
European Data Protection Supervisor Rethinks After Gamechanger
Wojciech Wiewiórowski, the European Data Protection Supervisor, announced that he will re-think EDPS Strategy 2020-2024 (which was supposed to be presented on March 19), because “COVID-19 is a game-changer”. For those interested to have a glimpse of the European Data Protector Supervisor’s activities, the EDPS Annual Report for 2019 was published on March 18.
EU/UK Data-Sharing Legal Framework Found Inadequate
The UK Government published the Explanatory framework for adequacy discussions with the European Commission, in order to maintain the continued free flow of personal data between the EU and the UK. The document provides an overview of the UK’s comprehensive legal framework underpinning high data protection standards. The European Parliament stated last month in a motion for a resolution that the U.K. regime on data retention “does not currently meet the conditions for adequacy”. The EDPS also issued an opinion warning the EU “to prepare for all eventualities, including where the adequacy decision(s) could not be adopted within the transition period, where no adequacy decision would be adopted at all, or where it would be adopted only in relation to some areas”.
Police-Held Database of Faces, DNA, Fingerprints, and Vehicles Requested
Ten EU member states, led by Austria, called for the introduction of EU legislation to set up a network interconnecting national police facial recognition databases. This would supplement an existing pan-EU initiative connecting DNA, fingerprint, and vehicle registration databases for mutual searching. The proposal raises concerns related to the mass surveillance and discrimination risks, but also to the possibility that the network could be connected with similar databases from the US.
Swedish DPA Investigates Facial Recognition
Sweden’s data protection authority launched an investigation into the potential use of controversial facial recognition app Clearview AI by government authorities. The Swedish police confirmed they used the facial recognition services provided by Clearview AI. The same Swedish DPA imposed a fine of 75 million Swedish kronor (approximately 7 million euro) on Google for failure to comply with the GDPR, by not fulfilling its obligations as a search engine operator in respect of the right to request delisting.
Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group, and Tripadvisor Reach EU Agreement
The European Commission reached an agreement on data sharing with travel and housing rental platforms. The agreement was concluded with Airbnb, Booking, Expedia Group, and Tripadvisor, and will allow Eurostat, the EU statistical office, to publish data on short-stay accommodations offered via these platforms across the EU.
France Shuffles Privacy Initiatives
France’s data protection authority (CNIL) postponed the adoption of recommendations on the use of cookies, which was due for early April. However, in contrast, The French National Assembly opened a public consultation on digital identity. Participation is open until April 19, 2020 (in French).
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Tools; More Important Than Ever
EU developed cybersecurity initiatives, such as a smart awareness tool for better cybersecurity management, are still moving forward or in the discussion. The tool has been praised as a comprehensive solution for security teams is meant to strengthen their cyber defence capabilities, to raise their level of awareness of the risk posed by cyberattacks, and to improve their capacity to respond to threats.
EU Agency for Cybersecurity Presses Forward
The EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) is also moving its initiatives forward during the pandemic with reports and studies.
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A new report has been published assessing requirements for operators of essential services and digital service providers.
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A call for an Ad Hoc Expert Group on AI cybersecurity was launched, aiming to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of experts. Those interested should submit their applications by 18:00 CET (Brussels time) on 15th April 2020.
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A Cybersecurity Platform has launched to foster cybersecurity education and skills within the EU.
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Finally, ENISA’s Executive Director, Juhan Lepassaar, shared his top cybersecurity tips for teleworking in times of COVID-19.
The Foresight of Brussels’ CYBERSEC Leaders
Like many events, the CYBERSEC Brussels Leaders’ Foresight 2020 Conference was reorganized into an online event and proceeded virtually on March 24th. Videos of the stream are available on the event’s Facebook page here. This marks a dramatic change from the October 2019 CYBERSEC event, which was its 5th, and largest, bringing 150 speakers and over 1,500 delegates.
Tech For Good & Government Hackathons
We are compiling an index of developer-led COVID-19 relief projects and news stories showcasing the positive impacts of tech during this time, and official statements from the major technology companies. You can find that post here. The European Commission and its Member States have also begun sponsoring hackathons dedicated to finding solutions and spawning new businesses during this difficult time.
WirVsVirus Hackathon
The German government organized on the weekend of 20-22 March WirVsVirus Hackathon, challenging developers and data scientists to come up with solutions to fight the coronavirus pandemic. The elevator pitches of 1500 projects can be found on the dedicated YouTube channel.
Hack The Crisis
Tech communities within the many EU Member States and other countries outside the EU were inspired by an Estonian startup community initiative, Hack the Crisis. Several online hackathons already took place, but others are to follow, some with the support of governments. The winning projects of the Estonian hackathon, organized on March 13-15, propose a call center connecting people at risk, a medical volunteer database, a workforce sharing platform that connects B2B sides for temporary workforce exchange, a corona-tracker app, and a cheap and easy to set-up mechanical ventilator. The three finalists of the hackathon organized by Poland are a project processing genomic data to predict how the virus will evolve and mutate, an initiative “connecting overworked parents with underworked educators”, and a project working on online support for primary school students.
Miscellaneous Updates
Industry Self Regulation Working In Germany
The German Association for Voluntary Self-Regulation of Digital Media Service Providers (FSM) has been accredited by Germany’s Federal Office of Justice to review decisions taken under the self-regulation regime for social media companies under Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG), the German online hate speech law.
EU Transparency Explainer Published
The European Commission published an explainer on what has been done so far for the ranking transparency guidelines in the framework of the EU regulation on platform-to-business relations (P2B Regulation). Developers Alliance participated in the dedicated online survey and in the second workshop organized on December 12, 2019.
The 2020 Datathon is Only a Month Away
While not related to the relief efforts of the novel coronavirus, the EU Datathon 2020 is still to be held. The Datathon is a competition where participants are invited to develop applications addressing four challenges, with the aim of “highlight the potential of linking EU data and regional data as well as to promote innovation and digital transformation opportunities by using open data. The deadline to submit proposals is May 3rd, 2020.
SMEs to Receive Free Access to eTranslation
The European Commission is providing SMEs free access to eTranslation, an online machine translation service for text and documents to and from the 24 official European Union languages, as well as Icelandic, Norwegian and Russian. The service is usually used by EU and national administrations.
Would You Call Yourself a ‘Clicwalker’?
A French court ruled that the 700 000 contributors to the web marketing app Clic and Walk are employees and applied a 50 000 euros fine. The ‘clicwalkers’ are sending photos of products from stores in exchange for a symbolic reward, on average no more than 6 euros per year. The startup is challenging the decision, which constitutes a highly relevant case law for the collaborative economy.
How Does Digitalisation Impact Your Daily Life
The results of a special Eurobarometer survey on the European citizens’ attitudes towards the impact of digitalisation on daily lives showed support for sustainability and data sharing. Other topics covered by the survey included disinformation, digital skills and the use of a digital ID.
Action Plan Supports Right to Repair
The New Circular Economy Action Plan, presented by the European Commission on March 11, proposed a “right to repair” for users of electronic devices. The measures targeting electronics and ICT products will be adopted under the ‘Circular Electronics Initiative’, with the aim to have longer product lifetimes and improve the collection and treatment of waste.
