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<span style="font-size:9pt">2</span>
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European Regional Bureau Newsletter: 7 September 2019 – 13 September 2019
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<span style="font-family:'Hind Light';color:#3a82e4">Internet Access</span>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: The new EU Commissioners responsible for digital policy unveiled</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">This week, the European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/interim/commissioners-designate"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> the new College of Commissioners.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Former French Minister, Sylvie Goulard, who will be Commissioner for the Internal Market, will lead on digital policy, focusing on issues such as connectivity, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and platform regulation.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Digital policy will also be coordinated by Margrethe Vestager, who will be both an Executive Vice President for digital and Commissioner for Competition. The move to combine competition and tech policy was among the biggest surprises of the team unveiled by von der Leyen and has raised questions about how the Dane will juggle two of the most politically sensitive parts of the Commission’s regulatory and antitrust work. Von der Leyen insisted Vestager’s expanded portfolio was a “perfect combination” at a time when competition policy has been moving into areas such as data privacy.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: The third call for Wifi4EU announced this week</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">On Monday, the European Commission</span> <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/news-events/newsroom/wifi4eu-new-call-date-announced"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> that the new call for the Wifi4EU initiative will be opened on September 19.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The initiative, which began in November 2018, grants winning municipalities vouchers of EUR 15,000 to install free Wi-Fi networks in public spaces.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Wifi4EU’s total budget is EUR 26.7 million, and the Commission plans to distribute 1,780 vouchers to EU municipalities on a first come, first served basis.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Investments in cloud infrastructure should be a priority according to EU digital chief</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">For a long time, the EU has struggled to establish a strong cloud infrastructure owing to a lack of investments and the presence of international players.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">In this regard, the European Commission’s digital chief Roberto Viola</span> <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/europe-needs-to-prioritise-investments-in-cloud-eu-digital-chief-says/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">pointed out</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> this week that “for Europe to lead the next technological race, we need to prioritize investment towards strengthening the existing European cloud infrastructure and service industrial basis.”</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Viola also pointed out that when boosting its cloud capabilities, Europe must comply with the data protection rules in order to ensure that technological developments go hand-in-hand with European values and norms.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Germany: Berlin to expand network connectivity</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Berlin’s transport ministry</span> <a href="https://www.bmvi.de/SharedDocs/DE/Pressemitteilungen/2019/063-scheuer-ausbauoffensive-fuer-laendliche-raeume.html"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">has released</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> a five-point strategy on how to accelerate the deployment of 4G and 5G networks across the country, especially in rural areas.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The transport ministry points out that by 2021, 99 percent of German households will be covered by LTE networks.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The government will collaborate with mobile network operators such as Telekom, Vodafone, Telefónica, and 1 & 1 Drillisch in order to deliver the strategy.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Hungary: Budapest could launch its 5G networks before the end of the year</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">This week, Houlin Zhao, the head of UN’s Internet and Telecoms Agency,</span> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-telecoms-idUSKCN1VV0VP"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> that Hungary could launch its next-generation 5G networks by the end of this year.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Hungary, unlike several other European states, has dismissed American concerns regarding the involvement of Huawei in the deployment of national 5G networks.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Laszlo Palkovics, the minister responsible for innovation and technology, pointed out that he was “very glad” of the fact that multinational companies such as Huawei are involvement in the development of future technologies.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Global: The World Economic Forum calls for an assessment of the safety of 5G</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">5G will provide tremendous benefits in terms of connecting a wide variety of services that have remained unconnected in the past, the World Economic Forum</span> <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/5g-will-change-the-world-but-who-gets-to-write-the-rules/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">wrote</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> in a report published this week.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The 5G revolution, nonetheless, “poses a wide and unprecedented set of risks that need to be considered by a significantly broader set of stakeholders.” It notes that never before have networks been relied upon for such an extensive number of services and it will be vital to protect them from interference – whatever its source.</span> <p class="list_paragraph" style="text-align:justify" awml:style="List Paragraph">
<span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The report calls underlines the need to consider security at all points in the supply chain and considers if an independent global oversight body might be a realistic prospect.</span>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Global: The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield mechanism delivers the expected results</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The third annual review of EU-US Privacy Shield agreement which facilitates transatlantic data sharing took place this week.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">In an official statement, EU Commissioner Věra Jourová and US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross</span> <a href="https://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-19-5563_en.htm"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">highlighted</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> the vital role of the shield in “protecting personal data and contributing to the $7.1 trillion economic relationship between the United States and Europe.”</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Both parties also reinforced their commitment to working towards a stronger and more credible enforcement in order to promote trust in the digital economy.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Europe to seek tough cybersecurity standards</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">In a recent hearing before the European Parliament’s Industry Committee, the new head of EU’s cybersecurity agency (ENISA), Juhan Lepassaar,</span> <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/cybersecurity/news/the-eus-search-for-tough-cybersecurity-standards/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">stated</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> that the new EU cybersecurity framework is expected to set “the new global standard for trust.”</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Like many other EU officials working in the cybersecurity domain, Lepassaar emphasized that “trust is a must” in the development of new technologies.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Additionally, ENISA’s chief expressed hope that the EU’s cybersecurity act will, like the GDPR, distinguish the EU from the rest of the world as a protector of personal freedoms and ethical values.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: Facebook’s audio transcription saga continues</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Austria followed Germany this week launching an investigation into the American tech giant’s use of audio recordings.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The company had previously</span> <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/facebook-privacy-audio-chats-investigation/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">admitted</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> that it had collected audio chats from numerous of its European users and used humans to transcribe them without consumers’ knowledge.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">Meanwhile, the company</span> <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/09/tightening-our-policies-and-expanding-resources-to-prevent-suicide-and-self-harm/"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">announced</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> this week that it would toughen its policy standards on the toleration of images of self-harm on its platform.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">EU: 40% of European businesses under attack by hackers</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">The association of audit firms, RSM, published a</span> <a href="https://www.rsm.global/news/39-european-businesses-admit-being-breached-cyberattack-majority-hacks-remain-hidden-public"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">report</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> this week which found that nearly 40% of European businesses have fallen victim to a cyber-attack.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">About 75% of all the attacks never become public knowledge, the association adds.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">For their study, RSM surveyed 597 companies in 33 European countries and concluded that often the main reason behind hackers’ success is the presence of undertrained employees which serve as easy targets.</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">France: French regulator responds to telecom companies</span>
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<span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">France’s telecom regulator, Arcep,</span> <a href="https://www.arcep.fr/newsletters/le-post/lepost-31.html"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">res</span> <a name="_GoBack">
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<span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">ponded</span></a><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'"> to the criticism that Orange and other telecom companies expressed last week regarding the regulator’s politicised approach towards the regulation of the industry. Orange also complained about Arcep’s sanction power claiming that the regulator is at once the regulator, the judge and the arbiter.</span> <span></span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:'Hind Light'">In an open op-ed, the regulator disagreed with telecom companies’ claims, countering that by objecting “Arcep’s power to impose penalties” one is ”defying the pragmatic spirit of regulation à la française.”</span> <p style="text-align:justify">
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