Wojdyło - legal aspects of new technologies

The Data Act became applicable on 12 September 2025. What do businesses need to pay attention to under this new EU-wide regulation?

Nature and purpose of the Data Act

The Data Act—Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 and Directive (EU) 2020/1828 (Data Act)—is an EU regulation, and as such applies directly in Poland and all other EU member states. At the national level the Data Act will be supplemented by local regulations, but these will essentially govern only procedural issues (e.g. infringement proceedings), not substantive issues. In other words, substantively the Data Act will govern across the entire EU.

To maintain the essential balance, I suggest sometimes taking a sceptical look at the tech rapture which we are increasingly swept up in. Then we will grasp that investing unheard-of amounts in the growth of AI and other digital technologies is not our most pressing need now.

For some time I’ve been bothered by the Solow paradox. This is the entirely counterintuitive connection observed since the 1980s between the growth of digital technologies and productivity. The economic data for the last 40 years show that the most advanced economies have not achieved a significant growth in productivity, despite the spread of computers, the internet, and various digital tools. Indeed, the productivity indicators during this period have been clearly lower than in periods preceding the digital revolution.

In its lofty aims and declarations, the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act clearly calls for human oversight of AI systems. But drilling down to the particular duties of entities using AI systems, the AI Act isn’t so clear. This article seeks to outline the key challenges in this context facing providers and users of AI systems.

EU regulations banning certain AI practices go into effect on 2 February 2025. Some institutions may assume that the bans only apply to extreme practices, which they would never be involved in. But the ban on using AI systems to assess the risk of that someone has committed a crime, or will commit a crime, shows that this is not the correct approach. A more in-depth analysis reveals that some market practices now considered standard, especially in financial services, may prove questionable once the bans enter into force. This is particularly true for monitoring of money-laundering risk and more broadly the risk of fraud.

Regardless of whether we see benefits or an existential threat in the latest AI technologies, the gravity of the challenges these technologies bring is undeniable. Over the past few decades, technological advances have far outpaced reflections on their possible consequences. This need not and should not be the case. That technologies are not solely a source of good is becoming apparent today as we begin to perceive the destructive impact that certain digital technologies have on our democracies, security, and mental health. In the face of recent technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, we have an opportunity to avoid mistakes and at least try to redirect the development of these technologies toward authentic benefits, while at the same time mitigating risks. In this context, I decided to sign an appeal to temporarily halt work on AI systems. I also encourage others to do so. Below I present the main rationale that guided me.

It has long been obvious that within the next few years we would witness attempts to regulate the world of decentralised finance. As it turns out, one of the most revolutionary laws may be introduced through an amendment to an obscure regulation on information accompanying money transfers.

I’m referring to the proposed changes to Regulation (EU) 2015/847 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on information accompanying transfers of funds—also known as WTR2. It is part of a broader package of regulations aimed at combatting money laundering and financing of terrorism. The main aim of WTR2 is to ensure that money transfers are accompanied by relevant information enabling identification of the parties to the transaction.