The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) released its 148-page annual report on 29 May 2024 (the Annual Report), highlighting the scope of work and enforcement activities undertaken by the DPC throughout 2023. A full copy of the report is available here. In this series of articles we decode the report – providing an insight into the key points of focus, emerging themes and potential areas of future regulatory developments.  This Article will aim to provide an overview of what we have learned in respect of data breach notifications from this year’s Annual Report, and what future trends i ..read more

On 13 March 2024, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2024/900 on the transparency and targeting of political advertising (the Regulation). The Regulation is now in force, however, the majority of its provisions will not take effect until October 2025. This article aims to provide a summary of the key provisions of the Regulation under the following headings: Scope of the Regulation Transparency and due diligence obligations  Targeting and ad delivery of online political advertising Supervision and enforcement Scope of the Regulation The Regulation is inten ..read more

Introduction Following the political agreement reached on the terms of the EU’s AI Act in December, the EU seems set to lead the way in adopting a novel regulatory framework to regulate the use and development of artificial intelligence (AI). Whilst the spotlight has largely focused on the AI Act, the EU’s AI regulatory framework will extend beyond just that piece of legislation.  Back in September 2022, the EU Commission published a proposed package of additional regulatory measures to support the rollout of AI within Europe. This package comprised of: the proposed AI Liability Directiv ..read more

On 27 November, the final text of the EU’s Data Act (the Act) was formally approved by the European Parliament and the European Council.  It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the EU’s official journal, which is expected in the coming days. However, the majority of its provisions will only apply 20 months after it enters into force. Scope of the Act The Act, which takes the form of a directly applicable EU regulation, has three central focuses: remove obstacles to the process of switching between providers of “data processing services”  and the portability of dat ..read more

At the start of November, the UK government hosted an AI Safety Summit, intended to provide a forum for in-depth discussions on the challenges and opportunities of AI technology. It attracted a wide array of senior stakeholders from across policy, business, academia and government and appears to show a UK desire to lead in this area. The opening day of the Summit saw the unveiling of the Bletchley Declaration (the Declaration) – a non-binding commitment agreed by the 27 countries whose delegates attended the Summit including USA, China, India and the EU. Although a voluntary declaration, lacki ..read more

The Irish Government published its Autumn Legislative Programme on 26 September and the eagerly awaited Digital Services Bill (the DSB) is included as one of the 27 bills to be prioritised for publication this session. This is somewhat unsurprising given that the DSB was previously listed in the Government’s Summer Legislative Programme as a bill to prioritise. However, there is one interesting contrast between the descriptions of the DSB provided in the Government’s Summer and Autumn Programmes. The Autumn Programme describes the purpose of the DSB as: “To implement Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 ..read more

Following the consultation, the Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM) has today, 14 August 2023, published notice of the designation of video-sharing platform services (VSPSs) as a category of relevant online services the providers of which are under the jurisdiction of Ireland. This designation becomes effective on 11 September 2023. CnaM must designate VSPSs as a category of relevant online services under Section 139G of the Broadcasting Act 2009 as amended by the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 (OSMR). This designation is a necessary first step in ensuring that VSPSs comply with online safet ..read more

On 19 July 2023, the Irish Government announced their intention to appoint John Evans as the Digital Services Commissioner in Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM). His appointment will take effect from 24 July 2023. As per Head 6 of the General Scheme of the Digital Services Bill which was published by the Irish government earlier this year, it is intended that Mr Evans will be responsible for coordinating the supervision and enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in Ireland as the Digital Services Commissioner. He will also be responsible for liaising and cooperating with the European Commission a ..read more

On 28 June 2023, Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM) launched a consultation on the designation of video-sharing platform services (VSPSs) under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 (the OSMR), amending the Broadcasting Act 2009. The OSMR transposes the revised Audio-Visual Media Services Directive into Irish law, which requires Member States to ensure that VSPSs take appropriate measures to protect young people from harmful content and protect the general public from illegal content. It also requires Member States to ensure that VSPSs comply with advertising standards. A VSPS is a service whe ..read more

Introduction Following its establishment earlier this year, Coimisiún na Meán (the CNM) released its first work programme on 20 June 2023. This work programme (the 2023 Programme) sets out the primary objectives of the CNM for 2023 up to February 2024. The objectives in the 2023 Programme include the following: Implementing new regulatory regimes for how online service providers deal with harmful and illegal content; Regulating broadcasting and on-demand services; Supporting the development of the wider media sector with funding schemes, together with initiatives to promote the Irish language ..read more