This handbook is published in the context of AI Watch, the European Commission’s knowledge service to monitor the development, uptake and impact of AI for Europe, which was launched in December 2018 as part of the Coordinated Plan on the Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence Made in Europe. As part of the AI Watch, a specific Task addresses the role of AI for the public sector, and it is set out to provide actionable guidelines for the adoption of AI in the public sector in the EU. The public sector deserves special attention in this regard, as it differs from the private sector in a number of ways and features.

On 21 April 2021, the European Commission presented its long-awaited proposal for a Regulation “laying down harmonized rules on Artificial Intelligence”, the so-called “Artificial Intelligence Act” (AIA). This article takes a critical look at the proposed regulation. After an introduction (1), the paper analyzes the unclear preemptive effect of the AIA and EU competences (2), the scope of application (3), the prohibited uses of Artificial Intelligence (AI) (4), the provisions on high-risk AI systems (5), the obligations of providers and users (6), the requirements for AI systems with limited risks (7), the enforcement system (8), the relationship of the AIA with the existing legal framework (9), and the regulatory gaps (10). The last section draws some final conclusions (11).

This article will unpack the European Draft Act on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the first (both in Europe and in the world) far-reaching regulation in this domain. It categorizes AI systems in three (eventually four) levels of risk and it assigns to each level a particular legal framework, with its own limitations and obligations. The Draft Act was created for laudable purposes, namely to harmonize digital development with fundamental rights and European values. However, similar to many other ambitious projects, it falls short in many ways. As this article will show, several issues are incompletely regulated, and there are doubts about the exact scope and content of the legal solutions outlined in the draft. It also potentially overlaps with several other European norms, introducing the possibility of conflicts. Finally, the law’s focus on fundamental rights may come at the price of digital innovation, although critics claim that the Draft Act does not go far enough to protect such rights.