Czech Business Today

According to the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SP ČR) survey, among less than a hundred companies, which has been mapping for four years how domestic businesses are approaching digital transformation and Industry 4.0 technologies. However, the Digital transformation is not happening in a vacuum. The legislative environment determines our options and this is the expertise we need to address in detail. The strategic raw material of the digital economy is data which plays an ever-increasing role in the ability to develop technology, export it, participate in international cooperation, or forge regional alliances, including military ones. But what legislative innovations are coming in the digital economy, and which should companies follow?

First and foremost, is the Artificial Intelligence Act, the current draft, of which contains serious flaws that will severely limit the adoption of AI and its use in practice. In particular, we see the current proposal to classify high-risk systems and to bring so-called General-Purpose AI systems within the regulation’s scope as critical obstacles. Our concerns about the development of the AI Act are also shared by all major European business federations and associations, which have endorsed BusinessEurope’s unified position. This year we continue to negotiate, in particular with MEPs, but there have been a large number of amendments to the AI Act in the European Parliament. In addition, a mechanism for vetting contractors is part of the new Cybersecurity Act and other regulations. The SP ČR has been working with the National Cyber and Information Security Agency (NUKIB) in this area for a long time to ensure that the resulting mechanism does not disrupt business while guaranteeing the security of the Czech Republic.

And finally, we are facing challenges in cloud policy at the European level. As a result, the proposal prohibits public administrations (with likely impact on other segments) from using cloud services provided by companies not based in the EU or owned by entities based in the EU. The SP ČR has long warned that such an approach would make it impossible to use cloud services from providers in the US, but also from other countries, and would also lead to technological isolation of the EU with negative impacts on economic growth and higher costs of services. We consider these political demands, which have nothing to do with cybersecurity and could have adverse effects on transatlantic cooperation, to be highly undesirable, not least in view of the complicated security situation caused by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

Source: Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic