Long-term trends in EU cybersecurity legislation: lessons for other jurisdictions?

In the field of cybersecurity, Brussels has been in a regulatory rush, particularly over the last decade. The result is a huge sprawling jungle of regulatory instruments interacting in complex, confusing and sometimes disjointed ways. Many of these instruments also have considerable influence beyond Europe. This talk will elucidate the catalysts, trends and obstacles shaping this development. It will also seek to distil lessons for non-European jurisdictions in terms of how cybersecurity regulation may be sensibly tackled. An overarching lesson is that strong regulatory capacity does not necessarily engender optimal regulatory coherence. Nonetheless, the overall development of EU cybersecurity law also exhibits multiple positive traits that signal Brussels’ ability to learn from weaknesses with previous regulatory instruments. There are good grounds for other jurisdictions to emulate the same traits.

Lee A. Bygrave is Full Professor at the Department of Private Law, University of Oslo, where he is Director of the Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law. He is additionally Honorary Professor at the College of Law, Australian National University, Academic Affiliate of the Centre for Health, Law and Emerging Technologies at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of the European Law Institute. Lee has carried out pioneering research and development of regulatory policy for information and communication technology for over three decades. He is the author of two international standard texts in the field of data privacy law, and co-author and co-editor of the leading international commentary on the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Lee has functioned as expert advisor on technology regulation for numerous organisations, including the Nordic Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and the Norwegian government. His work in the area of data privacy has been cited several times with approval by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

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