Meeting with
Go
le and Alphabet
Ref. Ares(2022)2869279 - 09/04/2022
Ref. Ares(2022)5039270 - 11/07/2022
Brussels, 30 March 2022
Steering brief
Scene setter
On 30 March, you will have a 45-minute meeting with
Google and
Alphabet
(CV in your file). You met
twice last year, on 25 January and 17 November
2021. Your discussion is likely to focus on key digital regulation files, such as the Digital
Services Act, the Data Act, as well as artificial intelligence liability and the Product Liability
Directive.
NB. A separate briefing on the Digital Markets Act and other competition
matters will be provided directly by DG COMP.
Digital Services Act
Google believes that the cornerstone principles established in the e-Commerce Directive
should be maintained, such as the country-of-origin principle, the guarantee of the
freedom of establishment and of the freedom to provide digital services.
Data Act
The Data Act proposal introduces, among others, a shielding provision for EU data
processed in the cloud, in order to prevent unlawful access to data by foreign authorities.
In this regard, we have noted Google’s activities in providing more secure and EU-based
services, e.g. by means of partnerships with EU-headquartered businesses.
The Data Act proposal also includes obligations to enable cloud switching. This poses
concrete regulatory requirements of contractual, commercial and technical nature and goes
further than the scope of self-regulatory codes of conduct, on which Google has cooperated.
Google has not explained its position on legislative proposals adopted under the data
strategy in writing or orally, or during the open public consultation prior to the Data Act. In
their earlier position papers, Google pointed to its support of consumer data portability. In
this regard, only the position of DIGITALEUROPE, the umbrella organisation for national
industry associations, is available. They argue:
Google is a business member of Gaia-X, working towards interoperability of cloud
services. Google is not a member of the European Alliance for Industrial Data, Edge and
Cloud, in line with its strict European membership eligibility criteria. Google has initiated
partnerships with European players
) to offer
services on EU markets that comply with national sovereignty criteria (such as the French
national cloud strategy and the Data Act). Those partnerships offer the possibility to run
Google technology within strictly nationally-based (unconnected) processing environments.
Steering brief
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Meeting with
Google and Alphabet
Brussels, 30 March 2022
Product Liability Directive & AI liability
.
Other points that could be raised
Your file contains concise defensives on data protection, in case your interlocutor raises
this issue.
You might also use this meeting to invite Google to re-consider whether their Google
Store or the Shop/Ads could be part of the Product Safety Pledge. The Product Safety
Pledge was initially signed in June 2018 by four online marketplaces. Since then 11
companies have joined the initiative (Allegro, AliExpress, Amazon, bol.com, CDiscount,
eBay, EMAG, Etsy, JOOM, Rakuten and Wish.com). It consists of twelve commitments
relevant for product safety and going beyond the legal requirements. Signatories of this
pledge report twice a year on their commitments.
Key messages
Digital Services Act
The Digital Services Act (DSA) is almost in the final phase of negotiation. I would
expect Google to be ready to comply with all the due diligence obligations, possibly
even earlier than the given date of application.
The DSA will set rules on content moderation practices of online platforms, and its
interaction with freedom of speech and healthy and well-informed public debate.
Platforms would also have to apply measures against misuse of their systems and
transparency mechanisms. Users will have the right to be informed about the moderation
policies and decisions by the platform, contest them and have redress options.
Very large platforms will need to assess and address risks that their systems pose to
freedom of expression and other fundamental rights, to ensure that those ‘public
spaces’ are open and fair.
Data Act
The aim of the EU data strategy is to unleash the potential of use and re-use of data
and to build open, competitive and human-centric ecosystems around data in Europe.
Voluntary data-sharing partnerships are supported by investments in common European
data spaces and legislative rules on data intermediaries via the Data Governance Act.
Such intermediaries would only be a facilitator of exchange (no own use of the data).
The Data Act aims to make the markets more dynamic by giving users a right to access
and use the data that connected objects create. This would lead to a fairer distribution
of the economic value of data. Any sharing of personal data must comply with the
General Data Protection Regulation.
Product Liability Directive & AI liability
People, who are injured or whose property is damaged by defective products, should be
adequately compensated by the producer, whether the product is equipped with digital
technologies or not. To achieve this, the Product Liability Directive needs updating.
Steering brief
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Meeting with
Google and Alphabet
Brussels, 30 March 2022
Besides, the opacity and increasing autonomy of certain AI-systems challenge existing
civil liability rules. Certain adaptations to national liability rules could be necessary to
create the right conditions for the development and use of AI in Europe. The objective
is to promote the rollout of trustworthy AI to harvest the full benefits of AI and avoid
legal uncertainty.
Contact – briefing coordination:
Steering brief
3/3
