Yvo VOLMAN

What Yvo VOLMAN has said (7)

• “Yes, thank you for these questions on ePrivacy. So what we want to do is to simplify life for citizens and businesses at the same time keep the highest level of protection. Now, default opt-in is not the first option that we're looking at at the moment. I would say on the AI Act and the interplay with other instruments, there are guidelines in preparation for the interplay between the AI Act and the GDPR. That's being done between the EDPB and the AI office. Another question that we often get on the AI Act is the interplay with the DSA and there what is relevant is that we plan to bring out a report on the interplay of the DSA with a number of pieces of legislation together with the simplification package. Is there going to be a stop the clock or is that excluded? There's not going to be an overall moratorium on the AI Act. That's not on the table. We are focusing on making the rules work in practice. Your question on EIDs, what are we thinking of, what could we be thinking of? Because this is still all under consideration. Well, we are thinking of preparing the ground for the eBusiness Wallet and that may lead to targeted changes in the EITIS framework and the EID framework. Also, we would like to see whether we can simplify life for trusted services, for trusted service providers and what can be done in that context.”
  Electronic identity
• “Yes thank you for these questions on the objectives and the results. Yes of course you need to very carefully assess whether the changes do change some of the objectives perhaps and change the balance but there's also changes where all the objectives can be met and at the same time the burden is taken away. Just just one example on on cookies which which may be close to your heart I looked at the website of the EDPB and got a cookie banner that asked me to agree to the EDPB actually using these cookies and the data for statistics. Well I'm not really sure that I feel better protected by clicking there and I don't think that the EDPB would have done anything bad with my data in any case in terms of the statistics. So really is this the best way of of handling this situation? Now on on AI whom are we helping? No we want to help European companies we want European companies to thrive in the digital world and on the eighth of October the apply AI strategy will come out which is another step to make sure that this really happens. Your question about yes okay you say there's so much legislation but you were proposing actually it's a good point having said that there are good reasons behind all these proposals and there are good reasons about all these bits of legislation but if you look back well you see that there really is a lot. Have we learned from this? Yes we have learned. I think you can expect less proposals in this mandate and new proposals and you can expect a serious and very critical look at what is there already.”
  Artificial Intelligence · GDPR
• “Yeah, let me react to what you said about the AI Act. Indeed, there are very good reasons for having the AI Act. It's not only about trust in AI, about our values, it's also about a well-functioning Single Market for artificial intelligence. So the idea is not at all to have an overhaul of the AI Act at this moment in time. We see there are a number of practical issues and there can be adjustments to handle these challenges. What we want to do is to make sure that it works in practice and we are supporting our companies also with the guidance, with the help desk, etc. Your question on whistleblowers, as far as I know, that has not come up in the context of the omnibus discussions but obviously it's an interesting area to look at as part of the wider environment that we're talking about when we are implementing the AI Act.”
  Artificial Intelligence · Transparency and oversight of AI-generated content · EU Single Market harmonisation
• “Yes, yes. First to Mr. Lopez Aguilar, the idea is not to lower standards, just to reassure you that is not the basic idea. On the point made about consistency and trust, one important thing is legal security. We see with a number of acts that companies have been preparing what happens if you suddenly change the playing grounds again. That is something that needs to be taken into account very, very seriously and that links to the question also about, well, is there going to be a partial stopping the clock? Our focus is to support companies to make sure that the rules work in practice. Your point about the cookie banners where I gave one example where I think that cookies would not be necessary, I fully agree with you that certain cookie banners are designed in a way that are not very practical for the user and I'm quite critical on these things and I click through and I still don't know what I agreed to. So that is something that needs to be looked at very seriously also in context of any cookie banner reform. Thank you.”
  GDPR · Privacy & digital economy
• “No, thank you for these comments. It will take a moment before we see the results of what has been put in motion. If you say that there has been no progress at all over the last year, yes, perhaps the results are not there yet but I think what has been put in motion is going to lead to results and will make life easier for businesses across Europe. And with what is still to come, the idea is really to make doing business in Europe easier while at the same time guaranteeing that there's a very high level of protection for citizens.”
  EU Single Market harmonisation
• “Yes thank you Chair for this opportunity to engage early on with this committee and honorable members. This is a very timely discussion. I would say over the past years the digital rule book has got thicker but actually for all the right reasons. Our rules seek to protect the fundamental rights and the safety of citizens also online. We have set the rules of the game for fair markets and have put in place measures to encourage innovative companies. We've also avoided the risk of fragmentation that could come from all member states setting their own rules. Now under the Executive Vice President Henne Virkunen our focus is on the solid enforcement of the rule book. Let's make the rule book work in practice. At the same time the Commission is committed to stress testing the rules to see how they apply in practice, how they interact with each other and where adjustments are needed. We're focusing on understanding where we can simplify procedures, cut administrative costs, streamline processes and eliminate redundancies. We seek to optimize the means to achieve the same or to maximize the results. We are not seeking to change the objectives set by the colegislator sometimes very recently. So the digital simplification package we are preparing still before the end of the year is a first step in this direction. We're working on a well rounded approach to simplification. Well first of all we will propose a digital omnibus with immediate proposals for legislative adjustments. At the same time we will launch a digital fitness check to look in the medium term at the cumulative impact of the wider rule book. This will start with a wide consultation and we will also propose a digital EU business wallet that will be tailored to the needs of businesses and government authorities. The aim is to simplify not just the rules but also really the daily reality of the business to government and business to business interactions. Now let me go for a moment into the plans for the digital omnibus proposal. In scoping our proposal so far we have picked areas where it's clear that the regulatory objectives can be achieved at a lower administrative cost for businesses, for administrations and for citizens. We've consulted widely in the course of the year on what adjustments can be made in the data key in the rules on cybersecurity and to ensure the optimal implementation of the AI rules. Last week we have launched a final round of consultations through a call for evidence and there in this call for evidence we explained the main opportunities simplification that we have identified so far in our interactions with businesses administrations and civil society. Now for the data key beyond the points already made by my colleague on personal data protection we hear several areas of substantive simplification that stakeholders are calling for. Some of our rules seem outdated in light of the technological developments but also of the more modern regulations that have followed in more recent years. It is the right time to align them to repeal what's no longer necessary and to consolidate the legal instruments. We are in particular looking at the free flow of nonpersonal data regulation but also at the coherence between the data governance act and different parts of the open data directive and the data act. Another pressing point raised by stakeholders is the very old story of cookie banners and consent fatigue. They're asking the Commission to propose pragmatic adjustments. Now for cybersecurity the second area we're looking more broadly at revisions under the cybersecurity act but also at targeted measures that could go through the omnibus where there are redundancies across laws in particular in reporting obligations for artificial intelligence. Our rules are in the process of being gradually applied. The Commission's intention is to address implementation challenges to businesses that are preparing for complying with the rules. The first priority that we see is to give legal certainty and focus on the optimal implementation of the rules for the AI Act but also for the data act. Our focus is really on supporting industry to understand and apply the rules. This is not only about guidelines but also about direct support through the AA service desk that will open in October and similar data at legal help desk that is going to be opened or through assistance through model contract clauses. Honorable members I can only share with you at this stage this preliminary mapping of issues we have identified and look forward to this exchange of views. Process wise we will conclude our final consultation mid October and we will come back to the European Parliament and the Council with our proposal still before the year end. Thank you.”
  Artificial Intelligence · GDPR
• “Yeah yes thank you Mr. Wass for these remarks. Now on the cumulative effect of the legislation we recognize that there was an issue there and that is exactly what we're going to look at in the fitness check. So in the first step the omnibus well you cannot solve it in an omnibus but this is the type of things that we're going to look at and not only the cumulative effect of the digital legislation as such but also let's look at the sectoral legislation that sometimes is there on top of the horizontal legislation. So definitely it's on the agenda. Thank you Mr. Volmann Ms. Pradines would like to add.”
  EU rules on digital competition