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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 13:34

EU justmins discuss legal issues re artificial intelligence, robotics

BC, Tallinn, 29.01.2018.Print version
Justice ministers of the European Union discussed the future of the European Prosecutor's Office and legal issues concerning artificial intelligence and robotics, Estonian Justice Minister Urmas Reinsalu introduced to his colleagues the new information system of the Estonian court system, for which a speech recognition system is being developed, informs LETA/BNS.

EU justice minister at a meeting in Bulgaria on Friday discussed the future of the European Prosecutor's Office, the regulation of cross-border civil proceedings and legal issues of artificial intelligence and robotics, the Ministry of Justice said.

 

Reinsalu said that questions concerning robotics and artificial intelligence will also pose challenges in the justice field in the near future.

 

"Artificial intelligence and robotics are key technologies, which enliven the economy and enable to improve people's access to public services and administration of justice. It was found already at the EU Digital Summit held in Tallinn last year that the digital remodelling of the branches of industry must be accelerated to create a more consumer friendly environment and for that we must have an effective legislative framework," he said.

 

"It is clear that when it comes to introducing these technologies, we must think through joint security standards, responsibility and legal and ethical issues. One of the tasks of the next presidency countries will be to find a suitable balance between developing new technologies and ensuring fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to privacy and data protection rules," Reinsalu said.

 

Reinsalu introduced to his European colleagues the activity of the expert group for self-driving vehicles established next to the Government Office in fall 2016, one of the tasks of which is to analyze the need for changing the legal system. "This experience clearly indicated that a more general cross-sectoral approach to legal issues of artificial intelligence is needed to increase legal clarity and avoid the creation of controversial regulations. For that, an expert group across agencies will be established in the near future, who will start to develop a cross-sectoral regulation and artificial intelligence strategy," he said.

 

The justice ministers also talked about the future of the European Prosecutor's Office and discussed its cooperation with already existing EU agencies. According to Estonia, the key issue is effective reciprocal information exchange between the European Prosecutor's Office and other agencies in order to ensure the existence of necessary information.

 

The ministers also discussed the recognition of cross-border jurisdiction and decisions and the fulfillment of them in family matters, including marital matters, parental responsibility and civil law "child abductions". The main aim of the amendments is faster procedure both in recognizing and fulfilling the decisions of the courts of other member states and the more effective cooperation of the central institutions of the member states. Reinsalu introduced to his European colleagues the Estonian court system's new information system KIS, for which a speech recognition system for the automatic transcription of the audio recordings of court sittings is being developed.

 






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