On 7 November 2023, in the King’s Speech, the UK government announced three draft laws aimed at supporting tech companies’ growth and competitiveness: the Automated Vehicles Bill (AV Bill), the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC Bill), and the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (DP Bill). Expected to be passed in the next 12 months, these laws, as the government says, are focused on modernising regulation so that innovative firms can thrive in the United Kingdom, while at the same time protecting consumers and enhancing users’ trust in new technologies. The proposed comprehensive legal frameworks aspire to position the UK as one of the global leaders on the tech regulation scene, ostensibly more business friendly than the European Union. As anticipated, and in contrast to the EU, there is no immediate plan to adopt a new wide-ranging Artificial Intelligence law, with existing laws continuing to operate as applicable. Firms that want to invest in, deal with or deploy new technologies across the globe should be aware of the UK legal landscape in order to assess and explore opportunities. We highlight a few pertinent points of the three laws in this alert.
The AV Bill will be one of the most comprehensive regulatory frameworks for self-driving vehicles globally, aimed at providing legal certainty and unlocking business confidence for further research, innovation and investment. The AV Bill is likely to implement the Law Commission’s recommendations resulting from its lengthy review of self-driving vehicle legislation and public consultation, which received responses from a wide variety stakeholders, including original equipment manufacturers, developers of automated driving systems and fleet operators, insurance providers, safety and road user groups, academics and other consultancy and professional organisations. The AV Bill was prepared against the background of calls for flexibility in the law, due to the fast evolution of the technologies in self-driving vehicles, as well as clear guidance in a technology-neutral way, focusing on outcomes rather than prescribing how the regulatory requirements should be achieved. The Law Commission’s recommendations also highlighted the need to maintain harmony with international regulations and with other policy areas such as connectivity, cybersecurity and infrastructure.
The proposal is that the AV Bill will include the following:
With the potential that self-driving vehicles have to improve road safety by reducing human error, the adoption of the AV Bill is intended to bring positive economic developments and efficiencies, as well as highlight the UK’s focus on high tech and high growth industries. The significance of the AV Bill is also based on its international impact, as the U.S. Congress has for some time attempted to pass legislation governing self-driving cars without success, resulting in uncertainty and risks for stakeholders who are faced with a myriad of state and local laws. It remains to be seen if the AV Bill, once adopted, would galvanise testing and operations of self-driving vehicles in the UK, and become a model law for other jurisdictions.
Similarly, the DMCC Bill is aimed at introducing a world-leading regulatory regime in digital markets, focused on preventing anti-competitive activity and boosting innovation.
The draft DMCC Bill seeks to introduce:
The government states that the UK’s approach to regulating digital markets is more targeted and flexible than the EU’s, focusing on a limited number of firms, prioritising risk-based intervention according to the evidence of harms and creating bespoke remedies, whereas the EU approach is said to risk creating unnecessary burdens for too many firms and imposing a rigid set of rules.
Also ostensibly presenting an alternative to the EU position is the proposed DP Bill, presented as a law which creates a more flexible data protection regime and encourages innovation in technologies such as machine learning.
The DP Bill proposals include the following:
Digital personal data is used by almost all businesses, with 85% of UK businesses reportedly handling some form of digital personal data and 99% of UK business who employ more than 10 people using digitised personal data. The DP Bill is aimed at maximising the economic benefits of utilising personal data in an effective and safe way.
As the three Bills make their way through the UK legislative processes over the next 12 months, businesses interested in investing in high tech industries or already operating in such industries should keep track of these developing laws in order to use any opportunities and prepare in good time for any necessary operational changes. We are providing a suite of products and services in this area, from regular updates and horizon-scanning to granular advice for firms who are likely to become SMS firms (and for their investors and counterparties) in terms of specific obligations and consequences expected to flow therefrom, timing and how these obligations may dovetail with neighbouring jurisdictions, including the EU. Please contact us if you would like to hear more.
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DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.
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