Search results

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  Competition issues in the area of financial technology (FinTech)
  

  The increasing number of FinTech services provided by newcomer start-ups, traditional financial institutions and big tech companies can bring new competition challenges to the playing field. Some factors can result in anticompetitive behaviours, namely the network effects derived from the use of...

  The increasing number of FinTech services provided by newcomer start-ups, traditional financial institutions and big tech companies can bring new competition challenges to the playing field. Some factors can result in anticompetitive behaviours, namely the network effects derived from the use of online platforms, the access to customer data, standardisation, interoperability and the use of algorithms. Combined with a service-by-service analysis, the study provides both, descriptive analysis and normative tools to anticipate and manage anticompetitive behaviours as they occur. This document was provided by Policy Department A at the request of the ECON Committee.

  • Published: 2018-10-04
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union (European Parliament)
  • Subject: banking, competition, digital technology, electronic money, financial institution, innovation, market, new technology, payment, standardisation, type of business
• European Parliament legislative resolution of 4 October 2018 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a framework for the free flow of non-personal data in the European Union (COM(2017)0495 – C8-0312/2017 – 2017/0228(COD))

  • Published: 2018-10-04
  • Corporate Author(s): European Parliament
  • Subject: access to information, code of conduct, computer system, cross-frontier data flow, data processing, data-processing law, digital single market, digital technology, Internet, technological change
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  EU competition law vs sector regulation in shaping the digital single market
  Back to the future?

  • Published: 2018-10-15
  • Corporate Author(s): European University Institute
  • Subject: competition law, competition policy, digital technology, discrimination on the basis of nationality, electronic commerce, regulation of telecommunications, single market
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  Precision agriculture and the future of farming in Europe
  Scientific foresight study

  This study resulted in the identification of four main future opportunities and concerns regarding precision agriculture (PA), or precision farming, in the EU, on which the European Parliament could take anticipatory action now: 1. PA can actively contribute to food security and safety; 2. PA su...

  This study resulted in the identification of four main future opportunities and concerns regarding precision agriculture (PA), or precision farming, in the EU, on which the European Parliament could take anticipatory action now: 1. PA can actively contribute to food security and safety; 2. PA supports sustainable farming; 3. PA will trigger societal changes along with its uptake; 4. PA requires new skills to be learned. The wide diversity of agriculture throughout the EU, regarding particularly farm size, types of farming, farming practices, output and employment, presents a challenge for European policy-makers. European policy measures therefore should differentiate between Member States, taking into account that the opportunities and concerns vary highly from one country to another.

  • Published: 2018-09-05
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (European Parliament)
  • Subject: agricultural policy, agricultural product, digital technology, environmental impact, farming system, fertiliser, harvest, satellite navigation
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  Futures of work
  Perspectives from the Maker Movement

  The work presented in this report attempts to explore other realms about the future(s) of work beyond the strongly driven narrative of digital transformation. We have addressed one particular grassroots community, the Maker Movement, which is de facto enabling new models of education, collaborat...

  The work presented in this report attempts to explore other realms about the future(s) of work beyond the strongly driven narrative of digital transformation. We have addressed one particular grassroots community, the Maker Movement, which is de facto enabling new models of education, collaborative work, and manufacture. Movements like the Maker Movement can be inspirational of policy making in areas of great complexity and uncertainties as work, employment, jobs are. We suggest that debates about futures of work need to mobilise the imagination, insights and expectations of wide ranges of society. Policy making should be nurturing necessary studies, experiments and conversations until some resilient ideas are found.

  • Published: 2018-08-08
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
  • Subject: computer assisted design, computer assisted manufacturing, digital technology, industrial revolution, innovation, new educational methods, new technology, product design, recycled product, research report, work
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  The right to respect for private life
  Digital challenges, a comparative-law perspective : the United States

  This study forms part of a wider-ranging project which seeks to lay the groundwork for comparisons between legal frameworks governing the right to respect for private life in different legal systems, and between the ways in which the systems address the challenges that the ‘digital age’ poses to...

  This study forms part of a wider-ranging project which seeks to lay the groundwork for comparisons between legal frameworks governing the right to respect for private life in different legal systems, and between the ways in which the systems address the challenges that the ‘digital age’ poses to the exercise of that right. The following pages will analyse, with reference to the United States and the subject at hand, the legislation in force, the most relevant case law and the nature of the right to respect for private life, ending with some conclusions on the challenges discussed. Unlike jurisdictions that have adopted an omnibus approach to privacy protection, the US takes a sectoral approach to regulating privacy, with different regulatory regimes for different contexts and sectors of the economy. This report provides an overview of the different areas of law addressing privacy, including constitutional, statutory, and common law, as well as of relevant scholarly commentary. The report concludes with a summary of the current legislative outlook.

  • Published: 2018-10-08
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services (European Parliament)
  • Subject: comparative law, data protection, digital technology, EU law, personal data, protection of communications, protection of privacy, United States
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  Cyber violence and hate speech online against women
  

  This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, looks into the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech online against women in the European Union. After reviewing existing definitio...

  This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, looks into the phenomenon of cyber violence and hate speech online against women in the European Union. After reviewing existing definitions of the different forms of cyber violence, the study assesses the root causes and impact of online violence on women. It continues by analysing and mapping the prevalence, victims and perpetrators. The document ends with an outline of the existing legal framework and recommendations for action within the EU remit.

  • Published: 2018-10-01
  • Corporate Author(s): Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union (European Parliament)
  • Subject: database, digital technology, entrepreneurship, information technology, Internet, participation of women, position of women, sexual violence, slavery, the EU's international role, trafficking in human beings, woman
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  European legal framework for “digital labour platforms”
  

  This report maps a kaleidoscopic array of platform-mediated working arrangements, by clustering the findings into three main subsets (passenger transport services, professional crowdsourcing, on-demand work at the client’s premises). Many initiatives taken by the European institutions and aimed ...

  This report maps a kaleidoscopic array of platform-mediated working arrangements, by clustering the findings into three main subsets (passenger transport services, professional crowdsourcing, on-demand work at the client’s premises). Many initiatives taken by the European institutions and aimed at promoting decent work in the collaborative economy are analysed including (i) the European Commission’s Communication 356/2016, (ii) the principles enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights, and (iii) the ruling by the European Court of Justice on the nature of the service provided by Uber. After exploring the existing legal framework in several European countries, this study goes into the issue of the legal status of platform–based or – mediated workers by analysing what is at stake in pending litigations on the proper classification. In the end, this report is meant to contrast the sense that new realities of work have outgrown legal concepts. The application of existing regulation must be reinforced, in order to avoid the risk that platform workers are considered by default as falling in a normative vacuum. In the end, creating a level playing field between the traditional and the digitally-enabled companies is the only way to reap full benefits of the on-going digital transformation.

  • Published: 2018-10-19
  • Corporate Author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
  • Subject: carriage of passengers, digital technology, European undertaking, information technology, job vacancy, labour law, labour market, organisation of work, outsourcing, report, social legislation
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  Evaluation of Europeana and orientations for its future development, following adoption of Council conclusions by EYCS Council on 31/05/2016
  Executive summary

  This study provides factual evidence and support for the evaluation of Europeana and the scoping of orientations for its future development. The study highlights the concept and value of Europeana as a European cultural and digital innovation project and performs an in-depth review of the adequa...

  This study provides factual evidence and support for the evaluation of Europeana and the scoping of orientations for its future development. The study highlights the concept and value of Europeana as a European cultural and digital innovation project and performs an in-depth review of the adequacy and viability of the services provided by Europeana. Evidence to assess the evaluation questions relating to the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value of Europeana is provided and analysed. Furthermore, the study assesses possible options and describes two scenarios for the future development of Europeana, focusing on Europeana’s strengths and areas of improvement.

  • Published: 2018-09-07
  • Corporate Author(s): (CARSA) ; A ; Agilis SA ; Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (European Commission) ; Ramboll Management Consulting A/S
  • Subject: access to information, added value, cultural cooperation, cultural heritage, cultural policy, digital technology, dissemination of culture, European cooperation, innovation, Internet site, project evaluation, project of common interest, public consultation, virtual library
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  Rail freight in the European Union
  

  • Published: 2018-09-04
  • Corporate Author(s): European Union Agency for Railways (EU body or agency)
  • Subject: carriage of goods, digital technology, harmonisation of standards, rail network, rail transport