Artificial intelligence has grabbed the headlines in the past year. However, this will not be the only legal challenge of 2024. We need to focus on 'tokenised' credit, 'legal technology' and identity systems, among other issues.
Technological advancements abound in 2023, but the most significant change may come from artificial intelligence (AI) and the approved European regulation on extremism on the same subject that will position the EU. Leading, compared to other competitors. Undoubtedly, we will be talking about AI again in the next 12 months, but there will be many legal developments that need to be taken into account. Ecija experts have highlighted ten trends that will surely become the new challenges they will have to face in 2024.
Artificial intelligence
Along with the milestone approval of the AI Regulation, the European Commission initiated the approval of the so-called AI Treaty, which seeks the industry's voluntary commitment to anticipate the standard and start applying its requirements before legislation. Deadline. This agreement will encourage and support companies to proactively plan for the activities provided for in the regulation. Companies will have the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the new law and prepare from the start. More specifically, the agreement will encourage organizations to communicate processes to prepare for compliance and ensure that the design, development and use of AI is reliable.
Cryptocurrency
The Regulation on Cryptocurrency Markets, approved in April 2023, regulates both the offering and provision of services related to cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, which will apply from mid-2024 to early 2025, and will be the reference standard for other jurisdictions that place bets. These types of services.
The approval of the standard will inject legal certainty into the market and promote innovation, while guaranteeing a high level of security for retailers and the integrity of cryptocurrency markets.
Metaverso
While 2023 may be the year metaverse waned as a major tech trend, the reality is that the advancement of virtual reality and augmented reality has created a space where the physical merges with the digital, predicting many practices. The phenomenon goes beyond entertainment and covers fields like sports, education and social interaction. In terms of intellectual property, this marriage between the real and virtual worlds raises complex legal challenges, from the ownership of virtual assets to the application of copyright laws to user-generated content.
Digital Services Act
2024 will be the year of the Digital Services Act (DSA). The package is one of the best European regulatory measures implementing new responsibilities and a series of changes for big tech companies, but which directly affect users in terms of information, limits on advertising, the illegality of content control or transparency in algorithms.
'Legal Technology'
In 2024, the legal industry is expected to continue its rapid evolution, leading to profound change in the legal industry. The use of AI-based technologies will become more relevant in this field, especially those based on advanced natural language processing models. This technology (GPT) is destined to revolutionize the way legal professionals interact with legal information and documents. GPT is expected to enable highly efficient and sophisticated automation in the creation and review of legal documents, providing context-sensitive recommendations and corrections in real-time.
Id
This year will be an important year in discovery and identification, as technology every day has more solutions that provide guarantees for identification purposes, but regulatory agencies are placing more limitations on the use of said technologies in favor of users' privacy. , occurred with the publication of the AEPD guidance on the processing of biometric data for the purposes of access control and presence control in the work environment, which restricts it and questions its legality. This can lead to an argument against identification. privacy.
'Cookies'
Third-party cookies — tracking files that allow websites to track a user's online activity on their computer and display relevant ads — will disappear, an issue deferred over time and involving major changes from a compliance perspective. Data protection regulations, as well as the way companies' marketing activities are proposed.
'Tokenized' credit
By the end of 2023, the control of a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on decentralized ledger technology has been adapted to the Spanish legal system, which has opened up the possibility of granting credit to companies and, therefore, financing its activities through lending. The tokenized format thus allows opening up a new market with much wider liquidity.
Data protection
Those responsible for data protection – the Data Protection Officer (DPO) – are positioned as the best-qualified agents in organizations to oversee regulatory compliance and to assume functions that contribute to the implementation of new technologies. This will increase the relevance of this number in the legal team of companies and the criticism of its proper configuration.
'Cyber'
In 2024 the CER directive on the resilience of critical institutions will be transferred to the Spanish legal system; Transposition of the NIS2 directive for the resilience of essential and critical institutions; Implementation of the obligations of the DORA regulation for financial institutions, insurers and IT service providers for these companies, as well as the approval of the Cyber Resilience Act on data security products with electronic components. Finally, cybersecurity certification frameworks promoted by the European Agency for Information and Network Security will be developed.
