CO2 fleet limits for passenger cars: Rapporteur presents compromise
Greener digitization: Greens write letter to Commission
Scholz rejects halt to Russian energy supplies ahead of EU summit
Tesla factory goes live – ‘Germany can be fast’
Global lithium-ion battery capacity may rise five-fold by 2030
Hungary wins EU nod for €209 million aid to SK Innovation battery plant
Lagarde warns crypto firms against sanctions busting
€400,000 in state aid for European companies
EU proposes cybersecurity rules for EU institutions
Opinion: ‘Dark patterns’ – how the DSA draft on platform design needs to be improved
Dear reader,
Summits keep Brussels and capitals busy. An EU summit Thursday and Friday, an extraordinary NATO summit on Thursday, both attended by US President Joe Biden and, in part, with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy joining in.
In the morning, Chancellor Scholz will introduce the Chancellery budget in the Bundestag during the budget debate. Some announcements for the summit are also expected in this general debate. In the afternoon, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel are expected in the European Parliament.
Draft Council conclusions in circulation show how the EU member states intend to set priorities in the future. While Ukraine is to be assured of support and a reconstruction fund for the country is to be adopted, and efforts to establish a European defense authority are to be further intensified, the chapter on energy has not yetbeen finalized.
According to the draft, the EU wants to become independent of Russian gas, coal, and oil as soon as possible, but uranium is not mentioned. Skimming undue profits from the crisis would be a “useful funding source”. Perhaps most importantly, in terms of energy policy, the EU plans to jointly purchase energy – gas, liquefied natural gas, and hydrogen. This is intended to prevent EU member states from driving up each other’s prices on the now smaller world market. The document does not explain exactly what this European purchasing community is supposed to look like. In December, the Commission proposed a similar instrument for joint strategic gas purchasing (Europe.Table reported).
But even beyond the summits, things are far from boring:
The European Data Protection Board has published guidelines for dark patterns in social media platforms. With the help of the guidelines, authorities throughout Europe should now be able to take uniform action against dark patterns, i.e. against the unfair tactics used by some website operators to obtain users’ data. At the same time, the guidelines specify how complaints can be avoided. Torsten Kleinz has the details.
Beyond the published guidelines, Brussels is currently working on the Digital Services Act (DSA) to create new, mandatory rules for online platforms. Julian Jaursch, project director at the German think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, argues that the DSA should contain a separate article on platform design with clear definitions and transparency rules that apply to all online platforms and prevent misleading design – the dark patterns mentioned above.
In Grünheide yesterday, a good-humored, dancing Elon Musk opened the Tesla plant with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, from which 500,000 EVs, Model Y, are now expected to roll out annually. Read more about it in the News.
Next Thursday, the EU Parliament’s rapporteur for the revision of CO2 fleet limits for cars and vans, Jan Huitema (Renew), will present his compromise text for an agreement in the ENVI committee to the shadow rapporteurs. In the compromise, among other things, he sticks with the combustion engine phase-out. Read what else is in it in the News.
Your Falk Steiner
Feature
Pink slip for dark patterns?
The data protection experts cite various provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation. Article 5 requires that personal data be “processed lawfully, fairly and in amanner comprehensible to the data subject.” Article 4 requires that consent can only be given “in an informed and unambiguous manner”. Article 12 states that information must be provided to citizens about data processing in a “precise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible manner”.
From these and several other regulations, data protection experts have identified a number of common strategies that they believe are incompatible with the GDPR. These range from“overloading“, where users are overwhelmed with information and choices, to “stirring”, where users are emotionally appealed to, to “hindering”, where users are often discouraged from making a decision that is not in the provider’s best interests with crude tricks such as missing links.
The guidelines are not only intended to provide guidance for authorities to take uniform action against such unwanted practices throughout Europe. The authors have also taken pains to describe the problem in a way that is comprehensible to the regulated companies. In 64 pages, they explain in great detail the dark patterns that appear, for example, when opening accounts on social media platforms to get users to release more data about themselves. At the same time, they give advice on how to avoid complaints. For example, the data protection experts advise against taking cookie banners lightly and merely confronting users with a baking recipe for cookies.
Practical catalog
The State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Baden-Württemberg (LfDI) and the French supervisory authority CNIL were responsible for preparing the report. Although the guidelines have only a narrow scope of application with social media platforms, the German supervisory authorities expect an improvement in their activities. The office of the LfDI explained to Europe.Table that the practical catalog facilitates“argumentation vis-à-vis responsible bodies and data subjects“.
They now have six weeks to participate. In an initial statement, the vice president of the German Digital Economy Association makes it clear that there is definitely a need for discussion here. “The extent to which the greater part of the content is required for data protection reasons will have to be discussed,” Thomas Duhr tells Europe.Table.
However, the biggest problem with this debate may be: The methods of influencing customers, which have been referred to as “dark patterns” since recent times, have proven to be enormously effective. Especially in the case of cookie banners, the tricks proved to be astonishingly effective. At conferences, those responsible reported enthusiastically how the approval rates for data-based advertising increased from under 30 to over 80 percent.
No established case law yet
Since these methods were open to all competitors and were also carried further by specialized service providers, today, you can hardly find cookie banners on ad-financed offers that do not use one or more methods that are now denounced as “dark patterns”. With the “Transparency and Consent Framework”, a de facto standard has even been established, which inevitably floods users with information and decision options. Competition among platforms, websites, and publishers also ensured that many providers chose to adopt the most customer-unfriendly option available to them in each case. Ending data sharing is not an option formany companies today. Particularly when it comes to nudging, many providers feel they have the right to use such methods aggressively. They did not have to fear any consequences for this.
The prosecution of the methods has so far been left to activists like Max Schrems, who has fought against data collection with mass warnings and lawsuits. With the new guidelines, the European data protection authorities are now signaling that their previous bite inhibition has found a limit.
However, companies should not expect to receive pink slips from the authorities too soon. The term is still too vague for the authorities to smoothly incorporate it into their supervisory practice, and there is still no established case law. Nevertheless, German consumer advocates from the Federation of German Consumer Organizations are interested in combating dark patterns outside of cookie banners.
To do this, however, they have to make use of a whole range of different regulations: from Section 5 of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG) to Section 312j of the German Civil Code (BGB) and the new German Data Protection Act (TTDPA). This jungle of regulations is likely to become even more confusing: This is because the European Parliament is already working on a series of new regulations in the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act and Data Act. Since the conversion of interfaces and the associated business processes can take more than a year, companies would be well advised to get started as soon as possible. Torsten Kleinz
Digital policy
European policy
AI regulation: Parliament wants to process dossier at lightning speed
It took almost a year for the substantive work on the AI regulation to get underway. But now, things are moving at a rapid pace. The topic keeps popping up on the agendas of the EP committees. This is also because seven committees are involved. IMCO and LIBE are in charge, JURI got exclusive competencies in sub-areas like transparency requirements for AI systems and rules for human supervision of applications. ENVI, CULT, ITRE, and TRAN are co-advisory and are allowed to give their opinions. In addition, there is the AIDA Special Committee, whose work is completed with this week’s report, but whose findings will also be incorporated.
Another reason for the many meetings is also the ambitious schedule, which the two lead rapporteurs, Brando Benifei (IMCO) and Dragoş Tudorache (LIBE), confirmed at a joint press conference.
Common intersections in four areas
On April 11, Benifei and Tudorache plan to present their joint first draft of the final report. Amendments can then be submitted until May 19. The advisory committees are to submit their opinions by July 11. In October, the MEPs will then discuss the report and adopt it at the first plenarysession in November, as Tudorache explained. After that, the goal is to start the trilogues as soon as possible – preferably before the end of the year. “We hope the Council can follow this schedule,” Benifei said. “If we take too much time, we will be too late with this regulation that will lead the way when it comes to AI.” The council has already begun its discussions, with the federal government, for example, officially submitting its first 300-page statement on the initial discussion points last Friday.
Following the discussions so far, the two rapporteurs initially see common areas of overlap in four areas. For example, they agree that they do not want to define the term AI system too narrowly. They also advocate a redistribution of responsibilities along the value chain. According to Benifei, they want to impose more duties on users in particular, also to avoid potential liability gaps. “Their responsibility should not be limited to following instructions,” he emphasized.
GDPR as a benchmark
On governance, the rapporteurs can also imagine agreement on a common position. The rules in the draft regulation would not be enough to avoid fragmentation of the digital market. “We don’t want to see 27 jurisdictions applying the regulation differently,” Tudorache said. National authorities would need to be given the right competencies in this regard.
There is also agreement that the AI regulation should be aligned with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provisions. The GDPR is the benchmark for how privacy is defined in Europe. There are some areas in the AI regulation, such as remote biometric identification, where interaction with the GDPR is very important, Tudorache stressed.
Where a common line cannot be agreed, the rapporteurs want to follow the usual procedural route via amendments. “Then we will see what compromises are reached and where the majorities are inParliament,” Tudorache explained.
AI regulation not yet future-proof
Many aspects of the AI Regulation remain controversial. At an expert hearing held Monday at the joint meeting of the Internal Market (IMCO) and Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committees, for example, some experts present attested that the AI regulation is not yet future-proof. Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, which works to reduce side effects of technology, warned against excluding general-purpose AI (speech recognition, image recognition, and similar non-specific processes) from the scope of the regulation especially if developed outside the EU.
In his view, this category represents the future of AI. “General-purpose AI can evolve very quickly,” Tegmark indicated. “It won’t even be possible for the EU to enact new regulations that quickly.” The solution is quite simple: these AI systems would simply have to be subject to Article 15 of the AI regulation. Then all manufacturers would have to ensure accuracy, robustness, and cybersecurity. Andrea Renda, a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), argued for a broad and technology-neutral AI definition to future-proof the AI law.
Prohibition of remote biometric identification
The protection of fundamental rights was also the focus of the debates. AI expert Catelijne Muller of ALLAI, an organization that says it is dedicated to promoting responsible AI, pointed out that AI already violates fundamental rights in many ways, for example, when it discriminates against people by skin color or restricts freedom of demonstration. She criticized that systems already on the market should not fall within thescope ofthe AI regulation as long as its purpose does not change.
Sarah Chander of European Digital Rights (EDRi) made four recommendations for action to MEPs to tighten up AI regulation. First, a clear liability framework needs to be developed. In her view, this has been incomplete to date. She also called for users to be held more accountable. Secondly, there is a need for legal assistance and clear complaint mechanisms for those affected. Third, a mechanism needs to be established to regularly updatetherisk categories or introduce new bans. Fourth, there already needs to be more bans where AI could have “life-destroying consequences” such as mass surveillance or predictions of future crimes. Chander called for an absolute ban on remote biometric identification.
More competencies for the AI Committee
CEPS expert Renda also recommended strengtheningthegovernance framework to ensure coherent implementation of the regulation. So far, the AI Committee has been too weak. “We need a large AI Committee with a strong group to support it,” he said. Among the competencies should be regular updates of the annexes and risk classification, preparation of guidelines for conformity assessment and living laboratories, and cooperation with sectoral regulators. The Committee should also be able to act preventively to address emerging risks.
Draft ITRE opinion presented
The expert hearing in the IMCO/LIEBE Committee mirrored the discussions in the other committees in many aspects. For example, the protection of fundamental rights, the use of general-purpose AI systems, the strengthening of the AI Committee, and the right balance of responsibilities between manufacturers and users were the focus of the debates in the Industry Committee (ITRE) on Monday.
There, Eva Maydell (EPP) presented her first draft opinion on the AI regulation (Europe.Table reported). This was received positively overall, but several groups called for further clarification of the provisions ondata governance as well as the definitions, especially the definition of AI.
The S&D Group’s amendments will mainly address issues such as impact on fundamental rights, inclusivity, and allocation of responsibilities along the value chain, Miapetra Kumpulanatri announced. “AI systems coming to market must be consistent with our values, not just our technical specifications,” she said. Elena Kountoura of the Left Party also called for prioritizing users’ fundamental rights. The Left Party would like to see remote biometric identificationbanned completely in public spaces.
AIDA report adopted
While the EP committees are still in the middle of their work, the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA) adopted its report yesterday. “We now have a unique opportunity to promote a human-centered and trustworthy regulatory approach toAI, based on fundamental rights that manages the risks while fully exploiting the benefits AI can bring to society as a whole,” said Axel Voss (CDU), EPP Group spokesperson on legal policy and rapporteur of the final report.
The report focuses on the EU’s competitiveness in digital markets and how it can be promoted. However,some of the original demands made by Voss were considerably weakened in the compromise version adopted yesterday. The report has no direct legislative relevance but can be used by MEPs to form opinions.
In a debate between Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, the ECON Committee, and the ENVI Committee of the EU Parliament, MEPs voiced their anger about the Commission’s proposal on taxonomy. One of the accusations leveled at the Commission was that it had ignored both the scientific community and the Parliament. The latter wants to classify gas and nuclear energy investments as sustainable bridging technologies with a supplementary delegated act.
There is still a lot of resistance in Parliament, which was demonstrated once again on Tuesday. The Platform on Sustainable Finance, a scientific advisory body to the Commission, had criticized the inclusion of gas in the taxonomy. However, the Commission stuck to its proposal, which is why parliamentarians are now accusing the authority of ignoring science.
Green MEP Michael Bloss also recalled that the Parliament had voted to remove nuclear energy from the taxonomy. The Commission has now brought it back in through the back door with a delegated act. The European parliamentarians could stop the Commission’s proposal with a qualified majority. Social Democrat Tiemo Wölken wanted to know how it was possible to rely on nuclear power when the uranium came from Russia. Peter Liese of the EPP criticized above all the criteria for the use of nuclear power. He was open to nuclear power, but a nuclear dependence on Russia was worse than a fossil dependence.
McGuinness defended the decision. She said neither science nor Parliament had been ignored, but a “different approach” had been taken. It was better to guide investment with strict criteria to facilitate the transition than to leave the energy transition to the market. She defended the inclusion of gas and nuclear energy by citing the lack of capacity of renewables. Moreover, uranium does not only come from Russia. luk
Climate & Environment
Energy policy
European Parliament
European policy
Natural gas
Nuclear power
Taxonomy
CO2 fleet limits for passenger cars: Rapporteur presents compromise
Parliament’s rapporteur for the revision of CO2 fleet limits for cars and vans, Jan Huitema (Renew), has drafted a compromise text for an agreement in the ENVI committee. Although his report was littered with numerous amendments (Europe.Table reported), the liberal Dutchman does not plan to make any significant changes.
Huitema is sticking to his reduction targets for automakers and remains committed to phasing out internal combustion vehicles by 2035. His interim targets also remain unchanged. However, he added the demand that the automotive industry must be supported in its ecological and digital transformation, as it is one of the pillars of the EU economy and secures jobs.
Huitema wants to abolish the “zero and low emission vehicles” (ZLEV) mechanism in 2025, as already proposed in his draft report. This offers manufacturers the opportunity to reduce their CO2 emission reduction targets via a crediting system if they sell so-called ZLEVs. The weight adjustment factor, which mandates lower targets for automakers if they sell heavier vehicles, would also no longer apply from 2025. Huitema had left this untouched in his previous draft. On Thursday (March 24), Huitema plans to present his compromise to the shadow rapporteurs. luk
Autoindustrie
Automotive Industry
Greener digitization: Greens write letter to Commission
Green MEPs wrote a letter to Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, his colleagues Margrethe Vestager and Vera Jourova, Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, Consumer Protection Commissioner Didier Reynders, and Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius. In the letter, they call for a stronger convergence of digitalization and the Green Deal: The ICT sector already accounts for 5 to 9 percent of electricity consumption, and digitalization will continue to grow.
Therefore, it is imperative that the EU only pushes innovation and digitalization “in a way that is compatible with CO2 reduction targets, climate neutrality projects, and high environmental standards”, the Green MEP said. This means that digital technologies and electronics must be sustainable and circular economycompliant throughout theirproduct cycle.
The reason for the letter is the planned presentation of the initiative for sustainable products on March 30, which should also include a revision of the Ecodesign Directive. With their letter, the Greens are making clear demands on the Commission: A mandatory impact assessment should be introduced for all ICT products, and labels on the environmental impact of products should make it easier for consumers to make ecological decisions. In addition, the fourth-largest EP group wants the Commission to introduce mandatory minimum environmental standards, including for software and digital devices. fst
Digital policy
Digitization
Environmental policy
Greens/EFA
Nachhaltigkeitsstandards
Scholz rejects halt to Russian energy supplies ahead of EU summit
Two days before the EU summit in Brussels, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has again rejected a halt to Russian energy supplies to Germany and Europe. It could be that the conflict with Russia would last for a while, so it must be possible to hold out against sanctions. “Therefore, the position of the Federal Republic of Germany on this issue is unchanged. Incidentally, this also applies to many, many other member states that are very dependent on coal, oil, and gas from Russia, even more so than Germany,” Scholz said.
But all EU states are working at great speed to replace Russia as a supplier. For this, treaties still need to be signed. The issue of energy sanctions is expected to play a role at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.
Scholz calls for immediate ceasefire
Scholz also expressed reservations about Poland’s call for Russia to be excluded from the G20. This is an issue that should be discussed jointly among the members and decided “not individually and separately”, Scholz said. “Clearly, we are busy with something else than coming together,” he added. Poland is not part of the world’s top 20 industrialized nations (G20) but is also represented in the body through the EU’s membership.
Scholz called on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. “We all need an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of the invaders, and the possibility to negotiate a peace deal with each other.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was pressing for a direct meeting with Putin, Scholz said. rtr
European policy
Tesla factory goes live – ‘Germany can be fast’
US electric car pioneer Tesla opened its factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg, on Tuesday in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and handed over the first models to customers. Group CEO Elon Musk, who traveled all the way from the US, presented the plant with pride: “Tesla will make sure this is a jewel for this region, for Germany and for the world,” he said at the opening ceremony. “Germany can be fast,” emphasized Scholz (SPD), referring to the record construction time of just over two years.
In doing so, he also pointed to the need to accelerate planning in Germany. Before the end of this year, the German government wants to significantly reduce planning and approval times so thatwind and solar plants, for example, can be built more quickly. Because of global tensions, Scholz also warned against reversing the globalization of the economy. “From my point of view, that would deprive the world and all of us of great prosperity,” Scholz said. For their part, German companies were investing in the US, China, and many other places around the world. “We need global competition, not deglobalization. That’s going wrong,” Scholz added.
50 gigawatts of battery cells per year
The Tesla plant is an incentive and a sign of progress for industry in Germany. The shift to EVs is especially important now, when Germany wants to become independent of Russian oil due to the Ukraine war, explained German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) upon his arrival at the plant.
Environmentalists protested at the opening, which falls on the United Nations World Water Day. On the A10 in the direction of Grünheide, two Tesla opponents abseiled from a highway bridge. Police stopped traffic and a long traffic jam ensued. “Replacing combustion engines with EVs will not save us from the climate crisis,” said activist Benjamin from Berlin, who was demonstrating against the carmaker in front of the entrance. In addition to employees and buyers of the first 30 new “Model Y” cars delivered, Tesla fan clubs were also present.
In the future, 500,000 Model Y compact SUV carsand500 million battery cells are to be produced annually in Grünheide, which corresponds to a production volume of 50 gigawatts per year. This will intensify the competitive pressure on German carmakers, who are gradually switching their range from combustion models to EVs. The start of production in Grünheide is also the European premiere of a more powerful version of the Model Y with a range of more than 500 kilometers at a price starting at €63,990. rtr
Electric vehicles
Electromobility
Tesla
Global lithium-ion battery capacity may rise five-fold by 2030
Global lithium-ion battery capacity may rise over five-fold to 5,500 gigawatt-hour (GWh) by 2030 from 2021, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday, while cautioning that supply of batteries will remain tight this year. “Electric vehicle market accounts for almost 80 percent of lithium-ion battery demand and high oil prices are supporting more markets to roll out zero-emission transportation policies, causing demand for lithium-ion battery to skyrocket,” Wood Mackenzie consultant Jiayue Zheng said in a report.
US carmakers Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co recently announced their EV expansion plans, with Ford set to launch seven electric models in Europe by 2024 and deepen its partnership with Volkswagen to produce a second EV for the European market.
GM has partnered with South Korea’s POSCO Chemical to make battery materials in Canada, with a goal of having the new plant running by 2025. Battery makers are responding to this rising demand with massive expansion plans, Wood Mackenzie said. However, having met shortages last year due to EV market demand and rising raw material prices, battery supply will not meet demand until 2023, the consultancy added. rtr
Battery
Energy
Hungary wins EU nod for €209 million aid to SK Innovation battery plant
Hungary on Tuesday gained EU competition approval to grant €209 million in state aid to South Korea’s SK Innovation Co’s electric vehicle battery plant, its third in the country.
The European Commission said the project would help develop the region and create jobs, outweighing any possible distortion of competition. The plant will make lithium-ion battery cells and battery modules for electric vehicles. SK Innovation which announced the project in January last year, supplies electric car batteries to Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co and others. rtr
Aid
Battery
Electromobility
European policy
Hungary
Lagarde warns crypto firms against sanctions busting
Cryptocurrencies are being used to avoid sanctions levied against some Russian individuals and the European Central Bank has warned firms in that industry against becoming “accomplices” in that crime, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday. “We have taken steps to clearly signal to all those who are exchanging, transacting, offering services in relation to crypto assets that they are being accomplices to circumvent sanctions,” Lagarde said at an online event.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the West has imposed massive sanctions on Russia, cutting the country off from important parts of the global financial markets. Among other things, several Russian banks have been excluded from the Swift international payments network, making it more difficult to move money outside Russia. In addition, the assets of oligarchs close to the Russian government have been frozen. The Russian Central Bank’s foreign assets have also been frozen. rtr
Cryptocurrencies
ECB
European policy
€400,000 in state aid for European companies
European companies affected by sanctions against Russia may soon receive upto €400,000 in state aid. That is according to a European Commission document seen by the Reuters news agency. Thousands of companies whose supply chainsno longer function due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia, as a result, are to benefit from the relaxation of the rules for state aid.
The Commission had said in an earlier communication that such support could take the form ofguarantees and subsidized loans, and asked member states for feedback on the idea. The move comes amid signs that the Ukraine conflict could affect EU economic growth this year. rtr
European policy
EU proposes cybersecurity rules for EU institutions
EU countries should put in place a framework to manage cybersecurity risks at EU institutions, the European Commission said on Tuesday, amid concerns about rising cyberattacks that could disrupt key activities and steal sensitive information. The proposal is part of a package of draft rules by the EU executive called the Cybersecurity Regulation that also aims to create a Cybersecurity Board to monitor the implementation of the new rules.
“In a connected environment, a single cybersecurity incident can affect an entire organization. This is why it is critical to build a strong shield against cyber threats and incidents that could disturb our capacity to act,” Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a statement.
Call for emergency response fund
Under the draft rules, all EU institutions, bodies and agencies will have to identify cybersecurity risks, set up a plan to improve their cybersecurity, do regular assessments and share details about incidents. The Commission also proposed an information security regulation that will create a minimum set of rules and standards for all EU institutions.
Governments have warned for weeks that Russia or its allies could carry out cyber attacks in retribution for sanctions, leading banks to increase monitoring, scenario-planning and line up extra staff in case hostile activity surges. Earlier this month, EU ministers called for the setting up of a cybersecurity emergency response fund to counter large-scale cyberattacks. rtr
Cybersecurity
European policy
Opinion
‘Dark patterns’ – how the DSA draft on platform design needs to be improved
Julian Jaursch
Julian Jaursch is a project director at the non-profit think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung in Berlin. There, he analyzes and develops policy proposals in the areas of platform regulation and dealing with disinformation. He recently published a paper on platform design issues in the DSA.
One of the stated goals of the DSA is to ensure a “transparent and safe online environment” across the EU. New rules for online platforms, which also include tech giants such as Facebook, Google, and TikTok, are intended to help with this. For the first time, it’s not just about setting guidelines for moderating and deleting individual pieces of content. Rather, the DSA is a kind of mandatory handbook with rules of conduct for tech companies, such as how they must report on their business practices. However, what was missing from the Commission’s draft was a consideration of platform design.
If the DSA is to be the forward-looking set of rules that EU lawmakers have been talking about for years and that many people are hoping for, it must contain a separate article on platform design with clear definitions, transparency requirements, and also prohibitions. Proposals for such a design article now exist, but the Commission, member states, and the European Parliament (EP) have not yet been able to agree on a compromise. The EU countries had brought a ban on misleading design into play, but only for online marketplaces.
The EP goes further and wants to ban such practices on all online platforms. This is the right approach because misleading design does not only occur in online shopping but also in social networks or video apps, where people inform themselves and form their opinions.
Disclosing results
However, the EP proposals also need improvement. A sensible regulation of platform design should not rely solely on prohibitions. Rather, it should allow insights into design processes, for example, through mandatory design reports. After all, design cannot only be used to mislead people.
There are many researchers and practitioners in the fields of user interface and user experience (UI/UX) design who are working on ethical or “prosocial” platform design. For example, researchers have found that pop-ups with verified facts can help people deal with disinformation online. The DSA should encourage platforms to test such design measures and disclose new approachesandtheir results. But neither the EP nor the Council have made proposals of this kind. Therefore, at the moment, it does not look like such requirements will be included in the DSA.
It is, therefore, all the more important that the rules that are ultimately laid down as a compromise in the DSA are also consistently enforced. Well-designed supervisory structuresare thereforenecessary. The responsible authorities must not only have sufficient expertise and resources of their own but must also exchange information with external experts, such as UX/UI experts. Improvements in the draft are also needed in this regard. So far, the involvement of external expertise is not a must, rather an option. This must change urgently.
Term ‘dark patterns’ has served its time
The EU countries are making the development of expertise an obligation for the Commission, which, according to the member states’ proposal, should play an important role in platform supervision. This makes sense but should also explicitly include the involvement of external experts. The Council proposal, which wants to declare the Commission centrally responsible for large players, would be most likely to ensure strong supervision. In the long term, a separate EU agency for platform supervision should be established, which can specialize even better than the Commission and is also independent.
The EU could use the DSA to emphasize the importance of dealing with annoying pop-ups and misleading buttons. Such design practices have often been referred to as “dark patterns”, including in the DSA. It may seem minor, but it would be an important signal from the EU to stop using this term. It has served its purpose in drawing attention to the issue of platform design. What is needed now is a more precise term such as“misleading design practices“. Moreover, “dark patterns”, as design expert Kat Zhou says, perpetuates the problematic dualism between light/good and dark/evil.
Digitization
European policy
Apéro
Even Thierry Breton had to smile: He wanted to discuss the EU Chips Act and other initiatives due to which the EU is to become the digital world market leader with the ITRE industry committee – digitally connected in keeping with the times. It was about spending billions, about research funding, about cutting-edge technology.
But the endeavor was hampered, especially when he wanted to talk about connectivity and broadband rollout. Cristian Silviu Bușoi, the ITRE chairman, stated laconically: The commissioner is frozen. And: These are network issues, not connectivity problems.
Not once, not twice, we counted four times that the Commission technicians had to leap to Breton’s defense to debate the digital future of Europe. It’s hard to get more realistic than that about the current state of digitization in Europe – perhaps the measures should be carried out under a new title: Time to thaw. Falk Steiner
CO2 fleet limits for passenger cars: Rapporteur presents compromise
Greener digitization: Greens write letter to Commission
Scholz rejects halt to Russian energy supplies ahead of EU summit
Tesla factory goes live – ‘Germany can be fast’
Global lithium-ion battery capacity may rise five-fold by 2030
Hungary wins EU nod for €209 million aid to SK Innovation battery plant
Lagarde warns crypto firms against sanctions busting
€400,000 in state aid for European companies
EU proposes cybersecurity rules for EU institutions
Opinion: ‘Dark patterns’ – how the DSA draft on platform design needs to be improved
Dear reader,
Summits keep Brussels and capitals busy. An EU summit Thursday and Friday, an extraordinary NATO summit on Thursday, both attended by US President Joe Biden and, in part, with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy joining in.
In the morning, Chancellor Scholz will introduce the Chancellery budget in the Bundestag during the budget debate. Some announcements for the summit are also expected in this general debate. In the afternoon, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel are expected in the European Parliament.
Draft Council conclusions in circulation show how the EU member states intend to set priorities in the future. While Ukraine is to be assured of support and a reconstruction fund for the country is to be adopted, and efforts to establish a European defense authority are to be further intensified, the chapter on energy has not yetbeen finalized.
According to the draft, the EU wants to become independent of Russian gas, coal, and oil as soon as possible, but uranium is not mentioned. Skimming undue profits from the crisis would be a “useful funding source”. Perhaps most importantly, in terms of energy policy, the EU plans to jointly purchase energy – gas, liquefied natural gas, and hydrogen. This is intended to prevent EU member states from driving up each other’s prices on the now smaller world market. The document does not explain exactly what this European purchasing community is supposed to look like. In December, the Commission proposed a similar instrument for joint strategic gas purchasing (Europe.Table reported).
But even beyond the summits, things are far from boring:
The European Data Protection Board has published guidelines for dark patterns in social media platforms. With the help of the guidelines, authorities throughout Europe should now be able to take uniform action against dark patterns, i.e. against the unfair tactics used by some website operators to obtain users’ data. At the same time, the guidelines specify how complaints can be avoided. Torsten Kleinz has the details.
Beyond the published guidelines, Brussels is currently working on the Digital Services Act (DSA) to create new, mandatory rules for online platforms. Julian Jaursch, project director at the German think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, argues that the DSA should contain a separate article on platform design with clear definitions and transparency rules that apply to all online platforms and prevent misleading design – the dark patterns mentioned above.
In Grünheide yesterday, a good-humored, dancing Elon Musk opened the Tesla plant with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, from which 500,000 EVs, Model Y, are now expected to roll out annually. Read more about it in the News.
Next Thursday, the EU Parliament’s rapporteur for the revision of CO2 fleet limits for cars and vans, Jan Huitema (Renew), will present his compromise text for an agreement in the ENVI committee to the shadow rapporteurs. In the compromise, among other things, he sticks with the combustion engine phase-out. Read what else is in it in the News.
Your Falk Steiner
Feature
Pink slip for dark patterns?
The data protection experts cite various provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation. Article 5 requires that personal data be “processed lawfully, fairly and in amanner comprehensible to the data subject.” Article 4 requires that consent can only be given “in an informed and unambiguous manner”. Article 12 states that information must be provided to citizens about data processing in a “precise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible manner”.
From these and several other regulations, data protection experts have identified a number of common strategies that they believe are incompatible with the GDPR. These range from“overloading“, where users are overwhelmed with information and choices, to “stirring”, where users are emotionally appealed to, to “hindering”, where users are often discouraged from making a decision that is not in the provider’s best interests with crude tricks such as missing links.
The guidelines are not only intended to provide guidance for authorities to take uniform action against such unwanted practices throughout Europe. The authors have also taken pains to describe the problem in a way that is comprehensible to the regulated companies. In 64 pages, they explain in great detail the dark patterns that appear, for example, when opening accounts on social media platforms to get users to release more data about themselves. At the same time, they give advice on how to avoid complaints. For example, the data protection experts advise against taking cookie banners lightly and merely confronting users with a baking recipe for cookies.
Practical catalog
The State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in Baden-Württemberg (LfDI) and the French supervisory authority CNIL were responsible for preparing the report. Although the guidelines have only a narrow scope of application with social media platforms, the German supervisory authorities expect an improvement in their activities. The office of the LfDI explained to Europe.Table that the practical catalog facilitates“argumentation vis-à-vis responsible bodies and data subjects“.
They now have six weeks to participate. In an initial statement, the vice president of the German Digital Economy Association makes it clear that there is definitely a need for discussion here. “The extent to which the greater part of the content is required for data protection reasons will have to be discussed,” Thomas Duhr tells Europe.Table.
However, the biggest problem with this debate may be: The methods of influencing customers, which have been referred to as “dark patterns” since recent times, have proven to be enormously effective. Especially in the case of cookie banners, the tricks proved to be astonishingly effective. At conferences, those responsible reported enthusiastically how the approval rates for data-based advertising increased from under 30 to over 80 percent.
No established case law yet
Since these methods were open to all competitors and were also carried further by specialized service providers, today, you can hardly find cookie banners on ad-financed offers that do not use one or more methods that are now denounced as “dark patterns”. With the “Transparency and Consent Framework”, a de facto standard has even been established, which inevitably floods users with information and decision options. Competition among platforms, websites, and publishers also ensured that many providers chose to adopt the most customer-unfriendly option available to them in each case. Ending data sharing is not an option formany companies today. Particularly when it comes to nudging, many providers feel they have the right to use such methods aggressively. They did not have to fear any consequences for this.
The prosecution of the methods has so far been left to activists like Max Schrems, who has fought against data collection with mass warnings and lawsuits. With the new guidelines, the European data protection authorities are now signaling that their previous bite inhibition has found a limit.
However, companies should not expect to receive pink slips from the authorities too soon. The term is still too vague for the authorities to smoothly incorporate it into their supervisory practice, and there is still no established case law. Nevertheless, German consumer advocates from the Federation of German Consumer Organizations are interested in combating dark patterns outside of cookie banners.
To do this, however, they have to make use of a whole range of different regulations: from Section 5 of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG) to Section 312j of the German Civil Code (BGB) and the new German Data Protection Act (TTDPA). This jungle of regulations is likely to become even more confusing: This is because the European Parliament is already working on a series of new regulations in the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act and Data Act. Since the conversion of interfaces and the associated business processes can take more than a year, companies would be well advised to get started as soon as possible. Torsten Kleinz
Digital policy
European policy
AI regulation: Parliament wants to process dossier at lightning speed
It took almost a year for the substantive work on the AI regulation to get underway. But now, things are moving at a rapid pace. The topic keeps popping up on the agendas of the EP committees. This is also because seven committees are involved. IMCO and LIBE are in charge, JURI got exclusive competencies in sub-areas like transparency requirements for AI systems and rules for human supervision of applications. ENVI, CULT, ITRE, and TRAN are co-advisory and are allowed to give their opinions. In addition, there is the AIDA Special Committee, whose work is completed with this week’s report, but whose findings will also be incorporated.
Another reason for the many meetings is also the ambitious schedule, which the two lead rapporteurs, Brando Benifei (IMCO) and Dragoş Tudorache (LIBE), confirmed at a joint press conference.
Common intersections in four areas
On April 11, Benifei and Tudorache plan to present their joint first draft of the final report. Amendments can then be submitted until May 19. The advisory committees are to submit their opinions by July 11. In October, the MEPs will then discuss the report and adopt it at the first plenarysession in November, as Tudorache explained. After that, the goal is to start the trilogues as soon as possible – preferably before the end of the year. “We hope the Council can follow this schedule,” Benifei said. “If we take too much time, we will be too late with this regulation that will lead the way when it comes to AI.” The council has already begun its discussions, with the federal government, for example, officially submitting its first 300-page statement on the initial discussion points last Friday.
Following the discussions so far, the two rapporteurs initially see common areas of overlap in four areas. For example, they agree that they do not want to define the term AI system too narrowly. They also advocate a redistribution of responsibilities along the value chain. According to Benifei, they want to impose more duties on users in particular, also to avoid potential liability gaps. “Their responsibility should not be limited to following instructions,” he emphasized.
GDPR as a benchmark
On governance, the rapporteurs can also imagine agreement on a common position. The rules in the draft regulation would not be enough to avoid fragmentation of the digital market. “We don’t want to see 27 jurisdictions applying the regulation differently,” Tudorache said. National authorities would need to be given the right competencies in this regard.
There is also agreement that the AI regulation should be aligned with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provisions. The GDPR is the benchmark for how privacy is defined in Europe. There are some areas in the AI regulation, such as remote biometric identification, where interaction with the GDPR is very important, Tudorache stressed.
Where a common line cannot be agreed, the rapporteurs want to follow the usual procedural route via amendments. “Then we will see what compromises are reached and where the majorities are inParliament,” Tudorache explained.
AI regulation not yet future-proof
Many aspects of the AI Regulation remain controversial. At an expert hearing held Monday at the joint meeting of the Internal Market (IMCO) and Civil Liberties (LIBE) Committees, for example, some experts present attested that the AI regulation is not yet future-proof. Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, which works to reduce side effects of technology, warned against excluding general-purpose AI (speech recognition, image recognition, and similar non-specific processes) from the scope of the regulation especially if developed outside the EU.
In his view, this category represents the future of AI. “General-purpose AI can evolve very quickly,” Tegmark indicated. “It won’t even be possible for the EU to enact new regulations that quickly.” The solution is quite simple: these AI systems would simply have to be subject to Article 15 of the AI regulation. Then all manufacturers would have to ensure accuracy, robustness, and cybersecurity. Andrea Renda, a researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), argued for a broad and technology-neutral AI definition to future-proof the AI law.
Prohibition of remote biometric identification
The protection of fundamental rights was also the focus of the debates. AI expert Catelijne Muller of ALLAI, an organization that says it is dedicated to promoting responsible AI, pointed out that AI already violates fundamental rights in many ways, for example, when it discriminates against people by skin color or restricts freedom of demonstration. She criticized that systems already on the market should not fall within thescope ofthe AI regulation as long as its purpose does not change.
Sarah Chander of European Digital Rights (EDRi) made four recommendations for action to MEPs to tighten up AI regulation. First, a clear liability framework needs to be developed. In her view, this has been incomplete to date. She also called for users to be held more accountable. Secondly, there is a need for legal assistance and clear complaint mechanisms for those affected. Third, a mechanism needs to be established to regularly updatetherisk categories or introduce new bans. Fourth, there already needs to be more bans where AI could have “life-destroying consequences” such as mass surveillance or predictions of future crimes. Chander called for an absolute ban on remote biometric identification.
More competencies for the AI Committee
CEPS expert Renda also recommended strengtheningthegovernance framework to ensure coherent implementation of the regulation. So far, the AI Committee has been too weak. “We need a large AI Committee with a strong group to support it,” he said. Among the competencies should be regular updates of the annexes and risk classification, preparation of guidelines for conformity assessment and living laboratories, and cooperation with sectoral regulators. The Committee should also be able to act preventively to address emerging risks.
Draft ITRE opinion presented
The expert hearing in the IMCO/LIEBE Committee mirrored the discussions in the other committees in many aspects. For example, the protection of fundamental rights, the use of general-purpose AI systems, the strengthening of the AI Committee, and the right balance of responsibilities between manufacturers and users were the focus of the debates in the Industry Committee (ITRE) on Monday.
There, Eva Maydell (EPP) presented her first draft opinion on the AI regulation (Europe.Table reported). This was received positively overall, but several groups called for further clarification of the provisions ondata governance as well as the definitions, especially the definition of AI.
The S&D Group’s amendments will mainly address issues such as impact on fundamental rights, inclusivity, and allocation of responsibilities along the value chain, Miapetra Kumpulanatri announced. “AI systems coming to market must be consistent with our values, not just our technical specifications,” she said. Elena Kountoura of the Left Party also called for prioritizing users’ fundamental rights. The Left Party would like to see remote biometric identificationbanned completely in public spaces.
AIDA report adopted
While the EP committees are still in the middle of their work, the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in the Digital Age (AIDA) adopted its report yesterday. “We now have a unique opportunity to promote a human-centered and trustworthy regulatory approach toAI, based on fundamental rights that manages the risks while fully exploiting the benefits AI can bring to society as a whole,” said Axel Voss (CDU), EPP Group spokesperson on legal policy and rapporteur of the final report.
The report focuses on the EU’s competitiveness in digital markets and how it can be promoted. However,some of the original demands made by Voss were considerably weakened in the compromise version adopted yesterday. The report has no direct legislative relevance but can be used by MEPs to form opinions.
In a debate between Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, the ECON Committee, and the ENVI Committee of the EU Parliament, MEPs voiced their anger about the Commission’s proposal on taxonomy. One of the accusations leveled at the Commission was that it had ignored both the scientific community and the Parliament. The latter wants to classify gas and nuclear energy investments as sustainable bridging technologies with a supplementary delegated act.
There is still a lot of resistance in Parliament, which was demonstrated once again on Tuesday. The Platform on Sustainable Finance, a scientific advisory body to the Commission, had criticized the inclusion of gas in the taxonomy. However, the Commission stuck to its proposal, which is why parliamentarians are now accusing the authority of ignoring science.
Green MEP Michael Bloss also recalled that the Parliament had voted to remove nuclear energy from the taxonomy. The Commission has now brought it back in through the back door with a delegated act. The European parliamentarians could stop the Commission’s proposal with a qualified majority. Social Democrat Tiemo Wölken wanted to know how it was possible to rely on nuclear power when the uranium came from Russia. Peter Liese of the EPP criticized above all the criteria for the use of nuclear power. He was open to nuclear power, but a nuclear dependence on Russia was worse than a fossil dependence.
McGuinness defended the decision. She said neither science nor Parliament had been ignored, but a “different approach” had been taken. It was better to guide investment with strict criteria to facilitate the transition than to leave the energy transition to the market. She defended the inclusion of gas and nuclear energy by citing the lack of capacity of renewables. Moreover, uranium does not only come from Russia. luk
Climate & Environment
Energy policy
European Parliament
European policy
Natural gas
Nuclear power
Taxonomy
CO2 fleet limits for passenger cars: Rapporteur presents compromise
Parliament’s rapporteur for the revision of CO2 fleet limits for cars and vans, Jan Huitema (Renew), has drafted a compromise text for an agreement in the ENVI committee. Although his report was littered with numerous amendments (Europe.Table reported), the liberal Dutchman does not plan to make any significant changes.
Huitema is sticking to his reduction targets for automakers and remains committed to phasing out internal combustion vehicles by 2035. His interim targets also remain unchanged. However, he added the demand that the automotive industry must be supported in its ecological and digital transformation, as it is one of the pillars of the EU economy and secures jobs.
Huitema wants to abolish the “zero and low emission vehicles” (ZLEV) mechanism in 2025, as already proposed in his draft report. This offers manufacturers the opportunity to reduce their CO2 emission reduction targets via a crediting system if they sell so-called ZLEVs. The weight adjustment factor, which mandates lower targets for automakers if they sell heavier vehicles, would also no longer apply from 2025. Huitema had left this untouched in his previous draft. On Thursday (March 24), Huitema plans to present his compromise to the shadow rapporteurs. luk
Autoindustrie
Automotive Industry
Greener digitization: Greens write letter to Commission
Green MEPs wrote a letter to Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, his colleagues Margrethe Vestager and Vera Jourova, Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton, Consumer Protection Commissioner Didier Reynders, and Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius. In the letter, they call for a stronger convergence of digitalization and the Green Deal: The ICT sector already accounts for 5 to 9 percent of electricity consumption, and digitalization will continue to grow.
Therefore, it is imperative that the EU only pushes innovation and digitalization “in a way that is compatible with CO2 reduction targets, climate neutrality projects, and high environmental standards”, the Green MEP said. This means that digital technologies and electronics must be sustainable and circular economycompliant throughout theirproduct cycle.
The reason for the letter is the planned presentation of the initiative for sustainable products on March 30, which should also include a revision of the Ecodesign Directive. With their letter, the Greens are making clear demands on the Commission: A mandatory impact assessment should be introduced for all ICT products, and labels on the environmental impact of products should make it easier for consumers to make ecological decisions. In addition, the fourth-largest EP group wants the Commission to introduce mandatory minimum environmental standards, including for software and digital devices. fst
Digital policy
Digitization
Environmental policy
Greens/EFA
Nachhaltigkeitsstandards
Scholz rejects halt to Russian energy supplies ahead of EU summit
Two days before the EU summit in Brussels, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has again rejected a halt to Russian energy supplies to Germany and Europe. It could be that the conflict with Russia would last for a while, so it must be possible to hold out against sanctions. “Therefore, the position of the Federal Republic of Germany on this issue is unchanged. Incidentally, this also applies to many, many other member states that are very dependent on coal, oil, and gas from Russia, even more so than Germany,” Scholz said.
But all EU states are working at great speed to replace Russia as a supplier. For this, treaties still need to be signed. The issue of energy sanctions is expected to play a role at the EU summit on Thursday and Friday.
Scholz calls for immediate ceasefire
Scholz also expressed reservations about Poland’s call for Russia to be excluded from the G20. This is an issue that should be discussed jointly among the members and decided “not individually and separately”, Scholz said. “Clearly, we are busy with something else than coming together,” he added. Poland is not part of the world’s top 20 industrialized nations (G20) but is also represented in the body through the EU’s membership.
Scholz called on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. “We all need an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of the invaders, and the possibility to negotiate a peace deal with each other.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was pressing for a direct meeting with Putin, Scholz said. rtr
European policy
Tesla factory goes live – ‘Germany can be fast’
US electric car pioneer Tesla opened its factory in Grünheide, Brandenburg, on Tuesday in the presence of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and handed over the first models to customers. Group CEO Elon Musk, who traveled all the way from the US, presented the plant with pride: “Tesla will make sure this is a jewel for this region, for Germany and for the world,” he said at the opening ceremony. “Germany can be fast,” emphasized Scholz (SPD), referring to the record construction time of just over two years.
In doing so, he also pointed to the need to accelerate planning in Germany. Before the end of this year, the German government wants to significantly reduce planning and approval times so thatwind and solar plants, for example, can be built more quickly. Because of global tensions, Scholz also warned against reversing the globalization of the economy. “From my point of view, that would deprive the world and all of us of great prosperity,” Scholz said. For their part, German companies were investing in the US, China, and many other places around the world. “We need global competition, not deglobalization. That’s going wrong,” Scholz added.
50 gigawatts of battery cells per year
The Tesla plant is an incentive and a sign of progress for industry in Germany. The shift to EVs is especially important now, when Germany wants to become independent of Russian oil due to the Ukraine war, explained German Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) upon his arrival at the plant.
Environmentalists protested at the opening, which falls on the United Nations World Water Day. On the A10 in the direction of Grünheide, two Tesla opponents abseiled from a highway bridge. Police stopped traffic and a long traffic jam ensued. “Replacing combustion engines with EVs will not save us from the climate crisis,” said activist Benjamin from Berlin, who was demonstrating against the carmaker in front of the entrance. In addition to employees and buyers of the first 30 new “Model Y” cars delivered, Tesla fan clubs were also present.
In the future, 500,000 Model Y compact SUV carsand500 million battery cells are to be produced annually in Grünheide, which corresponds to a production volume of 50 gigawatts per year. This will intensify the competitive pressure on German carmakers, who are gradually switching their range from combustion models to EVs. The start of production in Grünheide is also the European premiere of a more powerful version of the Model Y with a range of more than 500 kilometers at a price starting at €63,990. rtr
Electric vehicles
Electromobility
Tesla
Global lithium-ion battery capacity may rise five-fold by 2030
Global lithium-ion battery capacity may rise over five-fold to 5,500 gigawatt-hour (GWh) by 2030 from 2021, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday, while cautioning that supply of batteries will remain tight this year. “Electric vehicle market accounts for almost 80 percent of lithium-ion battery demand and high oil prices are supporting more markets to roll out zero-emission transportation policies, causing demand for lithium-ion battery to skyrocket,” Wood Mackenzie consultant Jiayue Zheng said in a report.
US carmakers Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co recently announced their EV expansion plans, with Ford set to launch seven electric models in Europe by 2024 and deepen its partnership with Volkswagen to produce a second EV for the European market.
GM has partnered with South Korea’s POSCO Chemical to make battery materials in Canada, with a goal of having the new plant running by 2025. Battery makers are responding to this rising demand with massive expansion plans, Wood Mackenzie said. However, having met shortages last year due to EV market demand and rising raw material prices, battery supply will not meet demand until 2023, the consultancy added. rtr
Battery
Energy
Hungary wins EU nod for €209 million aid to SK Innovation battery plant
Hungary on Tuesday gained EU competition approval to grant €209 million in state aid to South Korea’s SK Innovation Co’s electric vehicle battery plant, its third in the country.
The European Commission said the project would help develop the region and create jobs, outweighing any possible distortion of competition. The plant will make lithium-ion battery cells and battery modules for electric vehicles. SK Innovation which announced the project in January last year, supplies electric car batteries to Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co, Hyundai Motor Co and others. rtr
Aid
Battery
Electromobility
European policy
Hungary
Lagarde warns crypto firms against sanctions busting
Cryptocurrencies are being used to avoid sanctions levied against some Russian individuals and the European Central Bank has warned firms in that industry against becoming “accomplices” in that crime, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday. “We have taken steps to clearly signal to all those who are exchanging, transacting, offering services in relation to crypto assets that they are being accomplices to circumvent sanctions,” Lagarde said at an online event.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the West has imposed massive sanctions on Russia, cutting the country off from important parts of the global financial markets. Among other things, several Russian banks have been excluded from the Swift international payments network, making it more difficult to move money outside Russia. In addition, the assets of oligarchs close to the Russian government have been frozen. The Russian Central Bank’s foreign assets have also been frozen. rtr
Cryptocurrencies
ECB
European policy
€400,000 in state aid for European companies
European companies affected by sanctions against Russia may soon receive upto €400,000 in state aid. That is according to a European Commission document seen by the Reuters news agency. Thousands of companies whose supply chainsno longer function due to the war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia, as a result, are to benefit from the relaxation of the rules for state aid.
The Commission had said in an earlier communication that such support could take the form ofguarantees and subsidized loans, and asked member states for feedback on the idea. The move comes amid signs that the Ukraine conflict could affect EU economic growth this year. rtr
European policy
EU proposes cybersecurity rules for EU institutions
EU countries should put in place a framework to manage cybersecurity risks at EU institutions, the European Commission said on Tuesday, amid concerns about rising cyberattacks that could disrupt key activities and steal sensitive information. The proposal is part of a package of draft rules by the EU executive called the Cybersecurity Regulation that also aims to create a Cybersecurity Board to monitor the implementation of the new rules.
“In a connected environment, a single cybersecurity incident can affect an entire organization. This is why it is critical to build a strong shield against cyber threats and incidents that could disturb our capacity to act,” Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said in a statement.
Call for emergency response fund
Under the draft rules, all EU institutions, bodies and agencies will have to identify cybersecurity risks, set up a plan to improve their cybersecurity, do regular assessments and share details about incidents. The Commission also proposed an information security regulation that will create a minimum set of rules and standards for all EU institutions.
Governments have warned for weeks that Russia or its allies could carry out cyber attacks in retribution for sanctions, leading banks to increase monitoring, scenario-planning and line up extra staff in case hostile activity surges. Earlier this month, EU ministers called for the setting up of a cybersecurity emergency response fund to counter large-scale cyberattacks. rtr
Cybersecurity
European policy
Opinion
‘Dark patterns’ – how the DSA draft on platform design needs to be improved
Julian Jaursch
Julian Jaursch is a project director at the non-profit think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung in Berlin. There, he analyzes and develops policy proposals in the areas of platform regulation and dealing with disinformation. He recently published a paper on platform design issues in the DSA.
One of the stated goals of the DSA is to ensure a “transparent and safe online environment” across the EU. New rules for online platforms, which also include tech giants such as Facebook, Google, and TikTok, are intended to help with this. For the first time, it’s not just about setting guidelines for moderating and deleting individual pieces of content. Rather, the DSA is a kind of mandatory handbook with rules of conduct for tech companies, such as how they must report on their business practices. However, what was missing from the Commission’s draft was a consideration of platform design.
If the DSA is to be the forward-looking set of rules that EU lawmakers have been talking about for years and that many people are hoping for, it must contain a separate article on platform design with clear definitions, transparency requirements, and also prohibitions. Proposals for such a design article now exist, but the Commission, member states, and the European Parliament (EP) have not yet been able to agree on a compromise. The EU countries had brought a ban on misleading design into play, but only for online marketplaces.
The EP goes further and wants to ban such practices on all online platforms. This is the right approach because misleading design does not only occur in online shopping but also in social networks or video apps, where people inform themselves and form their opinions.
Disclosing results
However, the EP proposals also need improvement. A sensible regulation of platform design should not rely solely on prohibitions. Rather, it should allow insights into design processes, for example, through mandatory design reports. After all, design cannot only be used to mislead people.
There are many researchers and practitioners in the fields of user interface and user experience (UI/UX) design who are working on ethical or “prosocial” platform design. For example, researchers have found that pop-ups with verified facts can help people deal with disinformation online. The DSA should encourage platforms to test such design measures and disclose new approachesandtheir results. But neither the EP nor the Council have made proposals of this kind. Therefore, at the moment, it does not look like such requirements will be included in the DSA.
It is, therefore, all the more important that the rules that are ultimately laid down as a compromise in the DSA are also consistently enforced. Well-designed supervisory structuresare thereforenecessary. The responsible authorities must not only have sufficient expertise and resources of their own but must also exchange information with external experts, such as UX/UI experts. Improvements in the draft are also needed in this regard. So far, the involvement of external expertise is not a must, rather an option. This must change urgently.
Term ‘dark patterns’ has served its time
The EU countries are making the development of expertise an obligation for the Commission, which, according to the member states’ proposal, should play an important role in platform supervision. This makes sense but should also explicitly include the involvement of external experts. The Council proposal, which wants to declare the Commission centrally responsible for large players, would be most likely to ensure strong supervision. In the long term, a separate EU agency for platform supervision should be established, which can specialize even better than the Commission and is also independent.
The EU could use the DSA to emphasize the importance of dealing with annoying pop-ups and misleading buttons. Such design practices have often been referred to as “dark patterns”, including in the DSA. It may seem minor, but it would be an important signal from the EU to stop using this term. It has served its purpose in drawing attention to the issue of platform design. What is needed now is a more precise term such as“misleading design practices“. Moreover, “dark patterns”, as design expert Kat Zhou says, perpetuates the problematic dualism between light/good and dark/evil.
Digitization
European policy
Apéro
Even Thierry Breton had to smile: He wanted to discuss the EU Chips Act and other initiatives due to which the EU is to become the digital world market leader with the ITRE industry committee – digitally connected in keeping with the times. It was about spending billions, about research funding, about cutting-edge technology.
But the endeavor was hampered, especially when he wanted to talk about connectivity and broadband rollout. Cristian Silviu Bușoi, the ITRE chairman, stated laconically: The commissioner is frozen. And: These are network issues, not connectivity problems.
Not once, not twice, we counted four times that the Commission technicians had to leap to Breton’s defense to debate the digital future of Europe. It’s hard to get more realistic than that about the current state of digitization in Europe – perhaps the measures should be carried out under a new title: Time to thaw. Falk Steiner
