Browsing by study line "European Law"

Due to recent price volatility in the EU electricity markets, exceptional intervention measures have been implemented to ease the increased pressure on European households and businesses. This thesis examines the measure of setting a cap on market revenues for inframarginal energy generators. The thesis is divided into three sections. The first part of this research highlights the main elements of the EU’s energy policy objectives, attempts to trace back to the causes of the energy crisis, and examines how the current electricity market design contributes to attaining these goals. The second part deals with the content of the temporary regulatory measure that sets a cap on market revenues and attempts to identify some of its key costs and benefits. Finally, the third section takes a more pragmatic approach aiming to determine the risks adopting such regulatory measures may impose on the renewable energy industry by drawing from empirical data acquired from industry operators via survey responses. Combining these three parts of research, this thesis seeks to first determine and introduce the causes of the current electricity market crisis as well as the aspects of the current electricity market design that may be considered to malfunction. The second research question deals with the content of the regulatory measures adopted to mitigate this crisis in electricity markets attempting to conclude whether this measure can be considered an effective intervention. Along with the aims of the first and second parts, this thesis also attempts to assess the potential risks such regulation may have on the future of the renewable industry, forming the third research question answered through empiricism: how could this temporary measure affect the generators of renewable energy in the long-term? Besides providing a brief overview on the current EU electricity market design, this thesis aims to establish the importance of transitioning to renewable energy and increasing its role in the EU energy mix to not only be vital for environmental sustainability but a key element in ensuring the security of supply by diversifying the energy mix and decreasing the EU’s dependency on imported energy, as well as cutting off indirect support to Russian war. Along with this aim, it attempts to examine the effectiveness of the approach of setting a cap on market revenues on inframarginal technologies, especially considering the green transition targets of the EU.

Article 22 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR)arguably forbids the data controller from using solely automated processing to make decisions which produce legal effects concerning the data subject or similarly significantly affects the subject. It can be argued that the legislature assumes that solely automated processing of decisions is disadvantageous for the data subject’s legitimate interests. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the hypothesis that solely automated processing of decisions is in some cases advantageous for the data subject’s legitimate interests, especially economic ones, and human involvement at times disadvantageous. The focus of the research is on situations where the data controller is a private enterprise, and the data subject is a natural person in a customer relationship with the enterprise. The economic impact that human involvement in automated decision-making may have on data subjects will be demonstrated through a thought experiment. In addition, an evaluation framework for determining the “goodness” of human vs algorithm decisions will be established. The scholarly debate surrounding GDPR Article 22 will be discussed and the argument that the subject’s economic interests should be part of the legal consideration for GDPR Article 22 will be established in the literature review. This will be complimented with a comparison of how certain other EU and non-EU legislation have approached legislating automated decision-making, with a particular interest on human involvement. Analysis of available case law connected to GDPR Article 22 will be analyzed for the protection it provides to data subject. The potential negative economic effect for data subjects of human involvement or intervention in automated decision-making will be established based on established economic concepts. The nature of human and algorithmic decision-making will be discussed, reaching the conclusion that the core problem of advanced algorithmic automated decision-making is not caused by lack of human involvement in decision-making but lack of transparency and explicability of the algorithm.

Due to the rising use of pricing algorithms equipped with machine learning, there are concerns over whether Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) can effectively capture any such algorithmic collusion, particularly in the absence of any intention or action from the undertakings utilizing them. The machine learning algorithms can be shown to be capable of utilizing collusive strategies, and in the absence of a meeting of minds, it becomes pertinent to consider if their deployment could nonetheless amount to behaviour contrary to European competition law. This thesis examines the legal framework of Art. 101 TFEU and considers how it can be applied to cases of collusion achieved or sustained through the use of pricing algorithms. A limited extension of the current interpretation of Art. 101 is proposed, in order to ensure that algorithmic collusion can be effectively captured and enforced against. Without this extension, it is highly possible that algorithmic collusion would escape the remit of EU competition law – and in some cases it may already have. It is argued that the widened interpretation should specifically apply to cases of algorithmic collusion as, assuming this is not offensive to the integrity of Art. 101 nor to certainty in application, it will best accommodate for growing use of technological systems. Furthermore, given the rapidly growing technology sector and proliferation of tools such as pricing algorithms, a flexible approach based on the interpretation of Art. 101 TFEU rather than ‘hard’ legislation is the most appropriate form of competition regulation. This thesis will furthermore consider the liability concerns that may arise from the widened interpretation of Art. 101 and borrow analyses from English law to show why these concerns will ultimately be unfounded. In this thesis it is ultimately concluded that major reform is not needed to ensure the capture and enforcement of algorithmic collusion, and that judicial interpretation can ensure the proper capture of algorithmic collusion, without affecting the integrity or other application of Art. 101 TFEU.

The thesis examines the features of the EU legal system produce competence creep. The method of the thesis is theoretical, and the research question is reflected through theories of EU legal system and constitutionalism. In the thesis three main qualities of EU legal system is considered that are essential for the understanding of competence creep: inter-legality, constitutionalization of policy objectives and incremental constitutional change. Inter-legality means that the EU doesn’t conform to the systematic view of legal orders. Instead, it is an incomplete legal order that is in constant interaction with and dependent on the legal orders of the Member States. Inter-legality also informs the discourse and conflict in EU constitutionalism. Because of the limited competences the EU policy objectives are constitutionalized. This produces purposiveness of EU powers, which means the powers are delimited to pursue certain goals. In the EU constitutionalism the economic constitution has primacy over other policy fields, which means that the economic goals have pronounced role in the EU actions and integration. Both inter-legality and purposiveness informs the constant incremental change in EU legal system. The flexibility of EU legal system is needed in order to facilitate the discourse and conflict in pluralistic legal system. Moreover, the incompleteness of EU legal system means that it doesn’t have its own developed and independent deeper structure of the law, or formal, constitution. Consequently, besides the material constitution of the EU – the Treaties – there is the empirical and often invisible constitution that is constantly evolving through legal practices. The competences in the Treaties are formulated categorically, which doesn’t reflect the interdependence of policy fields. Moreover, the legal principles that relate to the exercise of the competences tend to be interpreted in a way that supports integration and the primacy of the economic constitution. Consequently, the division of competences in the Treaties doesn’t reflect the dynamism of the EU competences, nor the current state of evolving practices and ‘living’ constitution. Mechanisms of competence creep can be seen as illustration of the incremental constitutional change in purposive legal system. Moreover, the EU has went through constitutionally significant changes in response to crises. The crises responses have further induced questions on what normal constitutional variation is, and whether competence creep erodes institutional balance and the rule of law requirements in the EU.

Health apps that are used by individuals in multiple ways to improve their health and wellbeing are promoted as empowering the individual to control their health. Their increasing use means that they also gather more data concerning the health of the users. This data could be used for research or other public interest purposes, but its availability for secondary use is limited. In the EU there is also political interest to both increase availability of personal data in the inner market, as well as facilitate the use of eHealth solutions, including health apps. In this thesis, I will use legal dogmatics as a method to analyse how health apps could be used to gather data for public interest purposes. I look at what type of data is gathered by the health apps and why it is useful, how the GDPR sets criteria for the gathering of data through the apps and it’s secondary use, and how in special cases of research and other public interests, the rights of the data subject can be derogated. I will also compare this to the planned regulatory framework for data sharing, of the proposal for the Data Governance Act has been published. The main conclusion of the thesis is that that the framework for processing data for public interest purposes does not, in most cases, suit either gathering data by health apps, or secondary use of this data. This is both because the public interest as a processing basis needs to be based on law and needs to be balanced similar to a limitation of fundamental rights in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. This approach would in most cases be too heavy for this purpose. Instead, the processing is mainly possible on a consent basis. This could, even with the possibility of easier mechanisms for data sharing through data altruism organisations, affect the quality of the data gained, as the willingness to share data – and to even use a health app - vary between different demographic groups.

Countries worldwide are faced with the challenge of climate change mitigation. Even with the current climate targets, not enough is being done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the consumption of fossil-based energy. The hydrogen economy is believed to contribute to the green transition since green hydrogen is a carbon-free energy carrier and it provides an opportunity to decarbonize energy sectors where electrification is not possible. Such sectors where hydrogen could be utilized are, for example, the transport sector and various industry sectors, like chemicals and steel. A supportive policy framework is required to guarantee a swift and structured transition to functioning hydrogen markets. Finland, however, does not have a national strategy for the development of a hydrogen economy yet. This study explores the strategic possibilities in terms of developing a well-functioning hydrogen economy for Finland that would contribute to climate-neutrality. After describing and systemizing the current hydrogen scene in Finland, this study compares and analyzes the hydrogen strategies of the EU, Germany, and Norway. The aim is to find possible policy solutions that support the emerging Finnish hydrogen markets in the best way. This study concentrates on two specific aspects of hydrogen policy. What type of hydrogen should be supported in Finland – green or blue hydrogen, or both, and what kind of support mechanisms should be used to promote green hydrogen? The study concludes that the main conflict relating to the hydrogen economy, which is also inherent to energy law related issues in general, is the conflict between environmental interests and economic interests. We need quick actions to mitigate climate change, but green hydrogen is not cost-competitive, and it requires a lot of support to become feasible. It is found that the transitional period will play a crucial role in the development of the hydrogen economy, and blue hydrogen should lead the path towards fully green hydrogen markets. The shift to green hydrogen should be well-planned and structured, keeping in mind Finland’s prerequisites to produce both blue and green hydrogen. Realistic and concrete production targets for both blue and green hydrogen, defined and clear terminology, and well-designed support schemes are key for the future Finnish national hydrogen strategy. Hydrogen will likely require various forms of support, and the main rule is that direct financial support should be gradually removed, and the market-based support schemes should slowly take over.

Tutkielman tarkoituksena on tutkia direktiivien implementointia ja oikeusvaikutuksia maksuviivästysdirektiivin 2011/7/EU valossa. Maksuviivästysdirektiivi on luonteeltaan velkojan hyväksi pakottava vähimmäisdirektiivi, mutta se on saatettu kansallisesti voimaan käyttämällä huomattavissa määrin jo säädettyä tahdonvaltaista kansallista lainsäädäntöä. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan, mitä vaikutuksia tahdonvaltaisen lainsäädännön käyttämisellä on laintulkinnassa ja miten kansallinen tahdonvaltainen normisto käyttäytyy, kun sitä sovelletaan pakottavien direktiivimääräysten toteuttamiseksi tilanteessa, jossa sääntelyn kohteena on alue, jota kansallisesti on totuttu tulkitsemaan direktiivistä poikkeavalla tavalla. Aineistona tutkielmassa käytetään kansallista lainvalmisteluaineistoa, säädöksiä ja kansallisten tuomioistuinten vielä lainvoimaa vailla olevia ratkaisuja, joita käytetään osoittamaan niitä tulkinnanvaraisuuksia, joita tahdonvaltaisen lainsäädännön käyttäminen aiheuttaa. Keskeisen lähdeaineiston muodostaa Euroopan unionin tuomioistuimen ratkaisut ja ratkaisuehdotukset, sekä aihepiiriä käsittelevä oikeuskirjallisuus ja artikkelit. Tutkielman metodi on lainopillinen siltä osin kuin tarkastelun kohteena on lain tulkintaan liittyvät seikat. Tutkielmalla on tämän lisäksi lainsäädäntötutkimuksellinen näkökulma aiheeseen, jolta osin käytetään lainsäädäntötutkimuksellista tutkimustapaa, jossa tarkastelun viitekehykseksi otetaan hyvän lainsäädännön tavoite, jota vastaan käytettyjä lainsäädäntöratkaisuja tarkastellaan. Tutkielmassa havaitaan, että kansallinen maksukulttuuri ja velallisen suojan voimakas perinne hankaloittaa maksuviivästysdirektiivin säännösten hyväksymistä osaksi kotimaista oikeutta. Maksuviivästysdirektiiviä ei lainvoimaa vailla olevaan alempien oikeusasteiden ratkaisukäytäntöön perustuen nähdä sillä tavalla pakottavana, kuin mitä direktiivimääräyksistä ilmenee. Kansallinen tendenssi vaikuttaakin olevan jossain määrin maksuviivästysdirektiivivastaista. Koska direktiivimääräysten täytäntöönpanossa on käytetty tahdonvaltaista sääntelyä, mahdollistaa tämä varsin joustavan laintulkinnan, jollaista direktiivi ei näyttäisi sallivan. Oikeustila on tältä osin epäselvä, kun lainvoimaisia päätöksiä ei vielä ole. Tutkielman johtopäätöksinä esitetään, että eurooppaoikeudellisista pakottavista oikeusohjeista johtuu kansallisen oikeuden mukautuminen maksuviivästysdirektiivin pakottaviin määräyksiin. Kansallista tahdonvaltaista sääntelyä tulee näin ollen tulkita joko siten, että tulkinnan keinoin tahdonvaltaisuus poistetaan taikka tahdonvaltainen direktiivin vastainen kansallinen normi katsotaan kohtuuttomaksi ja siten soveltamiskelvottomaksi yksittäistapauksessa. Yleistäen tahdonvaltaista lainsäädäntöä voidaan tutkielman havaintojen perusteella käyttää myös pakottavien direktiivimääräysten voimaan saattamiseen, mutta tällöin laista olisi löydyttävä selkeä määräys, jolla tahdonvaltaisuutta rajoitetaan silloin, kun tahdonvaltaista säännöstä käytetään pakottavan direktiivimääräyksen soveltamisalalla.

More and more often in the digitalised world, consumers come into contact with undertakings operating within the zero-price market. That is, where the product or service is offered to the consumer at a price of zero. Examples of zero-priced markets are numerous, from shopping malls, to social media and credit cards. This market type is not an insignificant one, with Facebook and Google, two of the largest internet companies offering zero price goods, having a market capitalisation of $1,645 billion as of June 2020. The topic of data driven digital zero-price markets has been receiving increasing amounts of attention in recent years. The OECD, Commission, national competition law authorities and academics have increasingly been considering this market type. It is often said that the consumer pays to use these digital services with their person data. In online transactions, essentially all transactions require at least some disclosure of the user’s personal data. This personal data is highly valuable to undertakings, with companies willing to receive consumers data instead of being paid by them with money. Overall, the question which I pose is whether EU competition law can deal with the unique characteristics of these digital zero-price markets. The economic and consumer welfare grounding of Article 102 means that it is adaptable to zero-price markets, and the special characteristics of zero-price markets are to an extent already considered in a competition law analysis. This market type is unique and significantly different to the traditional market types that EU competition law has been faced with in the past. For one, these markets operate largely on the digital sphere, meaning that they are characterised by competition for the market, exceedingly fast innovation and unique barriers to entry. These markets are multisided, with consumers, advertisers, merchants and the undertaking all operating on unique parameters but interacting with one-another. Finally, the goods/services are provided at zero-price, which traditional economic analysis struggles to adapt to, whilst consumers are faced with alternative costs through their attention and information (data) and reduction of quality. The Google Search (Shopping) case shows these characteristics in action, and demonstrates the challenges which EU competition law faces when applied to this market type. It also shows the current capabilities of the law in dealing with this market type. There are ways that the law can be adapted, utilising new tests which focus on other cost parameters than price, putting more weighting on factors other than monetary price and looking at different competitive parameters such as quality. This thesis does not seek to criticise EU competition law as a whole. It is limited to considering specifically digital zero-priced markets. It is concluded that more can be done to ensure that its unique characteristics can be included in a competition law analysis. In this respect, the EU can become a leader, laying the groundwork for the future competition law treatment of these undertakings, and ensuring that it is properly recognised that consumers can face competitive harms even if it is not based upon a monetary price.

Emerging from the ruins of the World War II, European states sought to prevent new wars from breaking out by initiating a process of economic integration. The first step on the path to economic integration was the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, with further deepening by the establishment of the European Economic Community, eventually culminating in the establishment of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in the 1990s. Although the EMU can be considered the Holy Grail of European integration, its structure has significant shortcomings: monetary integration is strong, but economic integration remains superficial. This thesis examines the development of economic and fiscal integration in the European Union (EU) from the World War II to the 2020s. The analysis particularly seeks to answer how crises have impacted the progression of economic integration within the EU and what is the impact of the EU’s recent crisis response measures on the trajectory of fiscal integration. The thesis begins by examining the establishment of the EU and its initial stages of economic integration after the World War II. It focuses on the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in deepening integration, examining its methods of interpretation of Treaties to promote an ever closer Union. The thesis progresses chronologically, addressing the significance of the Eurozone crisis in deepening economic and fiscal integration. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, it focuses on the EU's strong response in the form of the recovery instrument and its impact on the progress of fiscal integration and the structural asymmetry of the EMU. The main conclusions of the thesis are that European economic and fiscal integration have deepened significantly because of existential crises, even beyond what the Treaty provisions would prima facie allow, thus raising questions of constitutionality. Integration has been facilitated in part by the vague language of the Treaties and the Court’s creative, pro- integrative approach to legal interpretation, resulting in the EU gaining new competences beyond those explicitly granted to it. EU crisis management measures have acted as clear steps towards a fiscal union, thus correcting the original asymmetry of the EMU, but they do not in themselves create a genuine fiscal union.

For the past decades, the society, economy as well as the mundane lives of people have been subject to a digital revolution. The undertakings operating in digital markets have become so powerful that their influence is no longer purely economic. Hence, it has also raised competition concerns. Namely, whether current competition policy is still able to fulfil its purposes in the digital environment. The vivid discussion on the topic among scholars and authorities as well as the numerous competition cases, related to digital platforms, prove the currency of the topic. This thesis examines how the existing objectives of competition policy fit into the framework of digital markets. It aims to provide answers to three research questions, which relate to: (i) the current interpretation of competition policy objectives; (ii) the challenges digital markets have imposed on the application of these objectives; and (iii) how the interpretation of these objectives should be modified, for them to fit better into their new operational environment. The focus is on EU competition policy, although reference will also be made to corresponding policies in the United States and in some of the Member States. The thesis concludes that the current scope and application of competition policy objectives is not fit for purpose in digital markets. This is largely due to the significantly different characteristics between digital and “traditional” markets. Particularly, the significance of data is of key concern in the digital markets. Services are often provided at zero-price, hence, policies drafted around price-centric analysis are not entirely suitable to the digital markets. Especially, including non-price parameters into the interpretation of policy objectives should be considered. Furthermore, the thesis also takes a brief look at the newly adopted Digital Markets Act and implications thereof.