Graham Greenleaf (Macquarie U Macquarie Law (Sydney) has posted “EU AI Act: Brussels Effect(s) or a Race to the Bottom?” ((2024) 190 Privacy Laws & Business International Report 1, 3-6) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The expression ‘the Brussels effect’ is often used rather loosely to refer to any or all of the ways by which EU legislative standards come to be adopted in the practices of companies (or governments) in countries outside the EU (‘third party countries’).
This article considers the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), and the various ways that it could have four types of ‘Brussels effects’. We need to distinguish: Extra-territorial application; De facto corporate adoption; Legislative emulation by 3rd countries; and Adoption in international agreements and standards.
The article argues that evaluation of the EU’s influence on the regulation of AI outside the EU requires all four types of ‘Brussels effect’ to be taken into account, because EU influence can take many forms. The combination of all four versions, if it is effective, is an example of the ‘race to the top’ in multi-jurisdictional regulatory standards. The article concludes that, while it is too early to assess the extent to which the EU AI Act will be another successful example of the Brussels effects, so far, the signs are promising.