The elections in Senegal bring in power a new President of the Republic. Almost immediately after, the Director General of the Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications et des Postes (ARTP) – (Regulatory authority of telecommunications and posts) is replaced. It took the form of a Decree of April 19, 2012. The new Director General is Mr Ndongo who is Telecommunications engineer.
This collective work describes the contours of French, European, and International healthcare regulation, and explores past, present, and future evolutions and tendencies in this sector. Original French title: Annales de la régulation, 2009, volume 2, sous la direction de Thierry Revet et Laurent Vidal, collection Bibliothèque de l'Institut de Recherche Juridique de la Sorbonne (IRJS) – André Tunc. (LGDJ)
CAFAGGI, Fabrizio (ed.),Professor of Comparative Law, European University Institute, Italy.
Elgar Publisher, 2012, 400 p.
Globalization pushes the boundaries of markets. Alongside the greater
“goods” of transnational economic activity come the “bads” of unregulated
conduct. This important book looks to the new frontiers of legal intervention
to make sure that global markets do not run riot over important public values.
The signal contribution is not the search for ever higher levels of
transnational authority – the superstates of a brave new world – but empowering
numerous private actors to enforce legal norms in our fast-changing economic
environment.
Speaking to the press is a way for the Regulator to reach everyone, including policymakers, European institutions, and fellow Regulators who also seek to compete for space in the digital area.
As he reported: "Nous arrivons aujourd’hui, avec l'irruption du numérique, à un acte 2 de la régulation. Il y a 20 ans, on est passé du modèle PTT où l’Etat produisait le service public, au modèle d’État-régulateur qui a permis l’ouverture à la concurrence. Ce modèle vise à une bonne organisation du marché avec des outils de pilotage efficaces, mais parfois très intrusifs : les licences mobiles, qui sont des contrats assortis de sanctions administratives en cas de non-respect des obligations, ou le dégroupage, qui est une intervention sur la propriété privée… Aujourd’hui il nous faut franchir une étape nouvelle et nous projeter dans la suite, repenser nos outils pour permettre, en complément, une régulation plus focalisée, plus humble et plus agile". We can translate this passage as it follows : “As of today, considering the onset of digital, we are getting to a second phase for Regulation. Over the past 20 years, we went from the ‘PTT model’, where the State provided for public service, to a new Regulatory State model that enabled competition to thrive. This model aims for good market organization with effective management tools, which may be sometimes very intrusive: e.g., mobile licenses, which are agreements that include administrative penalties in the event of failure to comply with its provisions, or unbundled access, which relates to a State intervention on private ownership… Today, we need to take it another step further and plan for the future, reconsider our tools to allow for a Regulation that would be better focused, humbler and nimbler”.
Whatever “Phase 1” was would thus be already outpaced. Farewell stringent public service, so long market openings to competition. Such an understanding of Regulation was certainly consistent with the idea that Regulation was only meant to be temporary, namely considering the everlasting protection of personal data by the dedicated supervisory authority (Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertés, CNIL)…
We would then need to implement “Phase 2” and, as Sébastien Soriano advises, to “Regulate by the multitude”, which is "a concept that includes consumers, but also users, observers, and the civil society as a whole. The key question is how to use the power of information to get the greatest possible leverage on the market while relying on the multitude. The answer is clear: Regulation by data"("La multitude, ce sont les utilisateurs, les observateurs, la société civile. Cela inclut les consommateurs, mais pas uniquement. Et la question centrale, c’est comment utiliser le pouvoir de l’information pour avoir un maximum d'effet de levier sur le marché et grâce à la multitude. La réponse, c’est la régulation par la data.").
Like all the others, the Telecom Regulator introduces himself as a sort of ‘natural’ Regulator for digital activities, as he relies on the key notion that is information. In doing so, he is seeking allies that are just as natural as he is— that is to say, consumers. Consumers fall indeed into the scope of the Regulator insofar as they provide him with the information he needs to Regulate the digital sector and space.
The Regulator thus does not define himself anymore as the one that protects consumers against the market, but as the one that binds the two together, transforming the complaint into a civic act: “There’s a problem. As a consumer, I am alerting you as a Regulator who has the means to regulate market failures and whom I shall let operate”.
In such a statement, the ARCEP not only becomes the ‘natural’ digital Regulator, but it also become the one that operates on the grounds of information brought by the web-user, who is protected by and who somehow benefits in return from the action of the Regulator.
Two concluding thoughts:
What a nimble reasoning indeed from the Regulator, who had initially been created to be the ‘container Regulator’, and who is now becoming, since Phase 2 is on its way, a kind of ‘overall’ Regulator that regulates both the container and the content.
This is a salient example that rationales and frameworks that were developed by the Banking and Financial Regulation are modelling Regulation in general: see whistleblowers, information, obsolescence of the ‘public service’.
The airline industry was the first regulated sector in the 1920s This reflects the fact that air transport implies that people can travel from one state to another state, which justified an early multilateral system of international agreements between States , under public international law, each retaining its share of sovereignty and its national company (eg. British Airways).
But the principle of competition making the organization more complex through the mechanisms of open sky that allow an airline company to offer its services abroad, regulation must be more open to competition.
In addition, the regulation of air cares more risks by adopting global safety standards to be imposed on all operators in the conduct and maintenance procedures of the equipment.
Personal Data, as they are information, are Compliance Tools. They represent a precious resource for firms which must implement a vigilance plan in order to prevent corruption, money laundering or terrorism financing, for examples. It is the reason why personal data are the angular stone of "Compliance by design" systems. However, the use of these data cannot clear the firm of its simultaneous obligation to protect these same personal data, that is also a "monumental goal" of Compliance Law.
In order to be able to exploit these data in an objective of Compliance and protecting them in the same time, the digital firm Apple adopted for example new dispositions in order to the exploitation of the Identifier For Advertisers (IDFA) integrated in the iPad and in the iPhone and broadly used by targeted advertising firms, is conditioned to the consumer's consent.
Facebook reacted to this new disposition explaining that such measures will restrict the access to data for advertisers who will suffer from that. Facebook suspects Apple to block the access to advertisers in order to develop its own advertising tool. Facebook guaranteed to advertisers who work with it that it will not take similar measures and that it will always favor consultation before decision making in order to concile sometimes divergent interests.
We can sleep and already make some remarks:
GDPR imposing to companies that they guarantee a minimal level of protection for personal data does not apply in the United-States. It is then possible that Apple acted through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), more than through legal obligation.
The mode of regulation used here is the "conversational regulation" theorized by Julia Black. Indeed, regulators let the forces in presence discuss.
This "conversational regulation" does not seem to be very efficient in this case and an intervention of administrative authorities or of judges could be justified via Competition Law, Regulation Law or Compliance Law, knowing that Competition Law will favor access right to information and Regulation or Compliance Law private life right.
The whole paradox of Compliance Law rests in the equilibrium between circulation of information and secret.
In The Journal of Regulation the summaries’ translation are done by the Editors and not by the authors
ENGLISH
On 16 November 2011, Moody’s downgraded twelve public-sector German banks, after regulatory changes in Germany and the EU.
FRENCH
Le 16 novembre 2011, Moody"s a dégradé douze banques publiques allemandes, après des changements dans la régulation financière en Allemagne et dans l’Union Européenne.
SPANISH
El 16 de noviembre del 2011, Moody’s degradó doce bancos del sector público alemán, después de cambios regulatorios en Alemania y la UE.
ITALIAN
Il 16 novembre 2011, Moody’s ha declassato dodici banche tedesche del settore pubblico, dopo dei cambiamenti nella regolazione finanziaria in Germania e nell’Unione europea.
In The Journal of Regulation the summaries’ translation are done by the Editors and not by the authors
ENGLISH
Several German representatives for regional data protection demanded that Facebook complies with EU and German law. Two major complaints concern Facebook’s facial recognition software and its "Like"-button.
FRENCH
Plusieursreprésentants de l’Allemagnepour la protection desdonnées régionales ont exigé queFacebookrespecteles droits allemand et de l’Union Européenne. Les deuxprincipaux reproches concernentle logicielde reconnaissance facialede Facebooket de son"Like"button.
SPANISH
Varios representantes alemanes de la protección de data regional demandaron que Facebook cumpla con la leyes europeas y alemanas. Dos quejas principales conciernen el software de reconocimiento facial de Facebook y su tecla “Like.”
ITALIAN
Diversi rappresentanti tedeschi per la protezione di dati regionali hanno richiesto a Facebook di conformarsi con la legislazione tedesca ed europea. I due reclami principali riguradano il sistema di riconocimento del viso di Facebook e la sua funzione “Mi piace”.
