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<span style="font-size:9pt">4</span>
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European Regional Bureau Newsletter: 12 May 2018 – 18 May 2018
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<a name="_Hlk478029639">
<span style="font-family:'Hind Light';color:#3a82e4">Internet Access</span> <a name="_GoBack">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Global: WEF new report on financing an Internet for All</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On May 14, the World Economic Forum (WEF) published a new report on “</span> <a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WP_Financing_Forward-Looking_Internet_for_All_report_2018.pdf"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Financing a Forward-Looking Internet for All</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">”.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The document calls on governments to invest in the development of a “robust digital ecosystem that can facilitate participation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">It develops a framework of different national Internet “maturity levels” to provide a common vocabulary for the extent to which the Internet is incorporated into citizens’ lives. It aims at facilitating discussion between the public, private and civic spheres.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">It also highlights that Internet access alone does not guarantee growth, and that what is needed is access with sufficient quality and speed to support a mature Internet ecosystem.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Commission launches Wifi4EU call for applications</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On 15 May, the European Commission launched a</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef-telecom/wifi4eu"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">call</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> for applications for</span> <a href="http://wifi4eu.eu/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">WiFi4EU</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The total indicative budget available for the applications selected under this call is EUR 17 745 000 and the deadline for submission of applications is June 15.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The selected municipalities will get a voucher of EUR 15 000 to cover the equipment and installation costs of Wi-Fi hotspots, and to be used within 1.5 years of being awarded the voucher.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Municipalities will be selected on a first-come, first-serve basis with no more than 8% of this call’s budget allocated per country.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Netherlands: Rights group to appeal against T-Mobile over net neutrality rules</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Rights group Bits of Freedom (BoF) is planning to appeal against T-Mobile for violating EU net neutrality laws in The Netherlands.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">BoF said T-Mobile’s “free” music streaming programme was used for commercial purposes, and wants to appeal the Dutch regulator (ACM)'s decision to not sanction the provided for net neutrality violations.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">“It’s not up to an Internet provider to for instance privilege a couple of services by not charging for the Internet traffic” these services generate, argued David Korteweg from BoF.</span> <p style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:10.000000pt">
<span style="font-family:'Hind Light';color:#3a82e4">Trust</span>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: EP report on illegal content online: yes or not?</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Conference of Committee Chairs gave the European Parliament till April 30 to decide which Committee to allocate all own-initiative reports, including the one on tackling the sharing of illegal content online.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">However, an agreement among the different parliamentary Committee was not found within the set deadline and the Parliament might not be able to draft a resolution on the matter anymore.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">It is rumoured however that a political group or individual MEP may still propose to draft a report to discuss at plenary level.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Communication on completing a trusted Digital Single Market for all</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Ten days before the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the European Commission issued a</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/completing-trusted-digital-single-market-all"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Communication</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> on completing a trusted Digital Single Market for all. This served as the Commission’s contribution to an informal discussion that EU leaders held in Bulgaria on May 16.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">This includes a set of concrete actions that Member States can take to protect individuals’ privacy and to allow for the finalisation of the Digital Single Market before the end of the year.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The document states that most EU Member States still need to take necessary measures to ensure that their national regulatory system fully complies with the regulation and that their national data protection authorities have adequate resources to fulfil their roles. It urges Member States to adopt the GDPR as soon as possible.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The Communication also calls on the Council of the EU to swiftly agree on a common position on the ePrivacy Regulation, in order to find an agreement this autumn; and on the co-legislators to find an agreement on the Regulation on free flow of non-personal data by June 2018</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The document highlights that the Commission issued a framework to allow the EU to maximise the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and has put forward an objective of annual investments by private and public players of at least € 20 billion annually in the 2020-2030 period.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Most EU Member States have not yet adopted national rules to implement the GDPR</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">European Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová</span> <a href="https://twitter.com/VeraJourova/status/996412005606096896"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">stated</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> that only four EU Member States have adopted national laws implementing the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Speaking just days ahead of the entry into force of the new data law, set on May 25, only Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Sweden have completed the transposition procedure. Many others, such as the UK, are at a final stage.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Commissioner Jourová has also recently warned Germany that some of its national provisions may not be compaible with the GDPR. The Commission will continue a dialogue on this with Germany.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: SMEs and the GDPR</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On May 15, industry organisations UEAPME, EUROCHAMBRES and HOTREC sent a</span> <a href="https://ueapme.com/IMG/pdf/Joint_letter_to_Commissioner_Jourova_on_GDPR.pdf"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">joint letter</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> to Justice Commissioner Vera Jourová asking the Commission to recommend to national governments and authorities “not to immediately impose fines on SMEs during the first year of application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)” and to continue to invest in support and advice for small businesses.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Meanwhile, the Commission, in order to help businesses and especially SMEs prepare for the GDPR, recently published a new “seven steps”</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/data-protection-factsheet-business-7-steps_en.pdf"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">guide</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> for companies who do not handle personal data as a core business activity.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Global: Kaspersky to establish data centre for transparency in Switzerland</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On May 15, Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab</span> <a href="https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/swiss-assembled-security/22378/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> it would relocate some of its operations from Moscow to Switzerland, in an attempt to increase transparency and protection of its data processing and software development infrastructure.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">This means it will move the servers that process and store Kaspersky Security Network data for users located in several regions, including Europe and Japan.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">According to reliable sources, the decision was taken to “ease concerns over laws that let Russian security services monitor data transmissions inside the country.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Global: Taiwan does not see EU data protection rules as a global standard setter</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">According to a recent</span> <a href="https://www.politico.eu/pro/taiwan-digital-minister-audrey-tang-eu-gdpr-data-privacy-rules-are-no-global-standard/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">article</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> in Politico, Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Digital Minister, does not believe that the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can or should serve as a global standard setter on data protection.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Tang cited “differing social norms” as one reason, and promoted an approach that balances the interests of “private and civil society”. On the one hand she sees the GDPR requirement for the data operator to explain in understandable terms what is being done with a customer’s data as a “real innovation”, but on the other she opposes the idea of granting privileges to research organisations.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">She also warned EU lawmakers not to rush ahead on legislating on Artificial Intelligence (AI).</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: IMCO Committee adopts Cybersecurity Act opinion</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On May 17, the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) adopted a draft opinion by Rapporteur Nicola Danti (S&D, Italy) on "The Cybersecurity Act".</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">393 amendments were tabled in IMCO and the Rapporteur proposed 25 compromises. These focus on issues including the involvement of stakeholders, more transparency for common cybersecurity actions, the use of self-declaration of conformity, and information to and protection of end-users.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The compromises also add more elements to the future certification schemes to ensure that new schemes will consider existing standards and security-by-design principles.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Lobby group DIGITALEUROPE</span> <a href="http://www.digitaleurope.org/DesktopModules/Bring2mind/DMX/Download.aspx?Command=Core_Download&EntryId=2660&language=en-US&PortalId=0&TabId=353"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">welcomed</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> the outcome of the vote and called on MEPs to preserve the “voluntary approach to certification” in the final EP report.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Global: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear at the European Parliament</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On May 22, Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg will</span> <a href="https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/articles/news/mark-zuckerberg-visit-european-parliament?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=will meet the leaders of its political groups&utm_campaign=Dods People EU weekly Newsletter 18/05/2018"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">meet</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> with the leaders of political groups in the European Parliament on May 22, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">European Parliament President Antonio Tajani originally wanted the meeting to be closed-door. However, following pressure from Justice Commissioner</span> <a href="https://twitter.com/VeraJourova/status/996819262818877440"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Věra Jourová</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> and from five of the eight parliamentary political groups, the hearing will be</span> <a href="https://twitter.com/guyverhofstadt/status/997430382462226432"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">web streamed</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: EU stakeholders to discuss implementation of blockchain</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On May 24,</span> <a href="http://ep-blockchain-conference.eu/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">an event</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> hosted by Member of the European Parliament Antanas Guoga (EPP, Lithuania) will see high level representatives from the USA, Japan, Australia, Canada and Lithuania come together to “present their views on the key aspects of blockchain technology, how it is impacting financial sectors, changing cyber-physical systems and creating new ways of guaranteeing provenance”.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The event will take place at the Australian mission to the EU and is organized in cooperation with the U.S., Canadian, Japanese and Lithuanian diplomatic representations to the EU.</span> <p style="text-align:justify;margin-bottom:12.000000pt">
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