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Czech Presidency queries EU countries on national security for AI treaty appeared on www.euractiv.com by Luca Bertuzzi.
In revising the mandate for the European Commission to negotiate an international convention on AI, the Czech Presidency of the EU Council raised the question of whether the treaty should cover matters related to national security.
The Council of Europe, a human rights organisation that gathers 46 countries, is currently negotiating a Convention on Artificial Intelligence, human rights, the rule of law and democracy.
Due to the considerable crossover with the EU’s AI Act, the European Commission asked the member states for a mandate to negotiate on behalf of the EU.
Until 15 September, member states could provide written comments based on the European Commission’s recommendation, shared in August. Putting together this commentary and working closely with the Council’s legal service, the Czech Presidency put forth two proposals.
“During the WP TELECOM meeting on 13 October 2022, the Czech Presidency intends to discuss the two options mentioned above, and invites the delegations to indicate their preferred option and any other remaining points to be addressed in the text of the decision and the negotiating directives,” the document reads.
The mandate provides that the convention is compatible with the proposal for the AI Act, “taking into account future developments in the legislative process.” Therefore, even when the mandate is confirmed, it remains unclear how far the Commission could engage in the negotiations since the AI regulation is still far from having completed the legislative process.
However, at this stage, the Czech Presidency raised a fundamental question that might change the scope of the Council of Europe’s convention, confirming that the international treaty is now being driven by EU internal decision-making.
National security
The Czech Presidency proposed two options for dealing with the issue of national security.
In the first option, the scopes of the AI Act and the international convention are not aligned, as the AI regulation does not deal with national security, which remains the sole responsibility of each member state, as per the EU treaties.
Since the current version of the AI treaty does touch upon national security matters, the remit of the negotiations is split between the Commission and member states, which are to cooperate closely during the negotiating process.
By contrast, in the second option, the scope of the EU’s regulation and the Council of Europe’s treaty are aligned by taking the national security aspect out of the latter. Put differently, during the negotiations, the Commission is to ensure consistency with the AI Act, including for what concerns the scope.
“This means that questions related to national security should not be addressed by the convention contrary to what is provided for in the zero draft, because national security is excluded from the scope of the AI Act,” reads the accompanying note.
Common ground
The Presidency added elements common to both proposals. For instance, the legal basis now includes a reference to the treaty’s article on the internal market.
In the implementation of the convention, it is up to the member states to define “their essential security interests and to adopt appropriate measures to ensure their internal and external security while not rendering EU law inapplicable or exempting them from their obligation to comply with EU law.”
Moreover, Prague wants the discussions related to the AI treaty to take place within the Telecom Working Party, typically made up of representatives from the economic ministries. By contrast, the negotiations on the Council of Europe’s treaty were so far followed by the national government’s ministry of justice.
The Presidency added that the convention aims to ensure AI systems are developed, designed and applied consistently with human rights, democratic process and the observance of the rule of law.
Negotiation procedure
Whether national security is part of the convention will define to what extent the member states will be involved, since a more limited scope of the AI treaty would mean the Commission will be single-handedly carrying out the negotiations for the bloc.
Whichever the scenario, Prague put forth a series of ground rules on how to advance the negotiations. For instance, the EU executive will have to provide a schedule of future meetings, anticipating the issues to be discussed and sharing relevant information as early as possible.
The Commission and EU countries are to cooperate closely throughout the negotiation process, following the principle of sincere cooperation. The Telecom Working Party is to meet ahead of each round of negotiations to identify the critical issues, formulate opinions and provide guidance.
The EU executive would also have to report to the EU countries about the outcome of each negotiating session, including in writing, and consult with them on any critical issue that might arise during the negotiations.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
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This article originally appeared on www.euractiv.com by Luca Bertuzzi – sharing via newswires in the public domain, repeatedly. News articles have become eerily similar to manufacturer descriptions.
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