Legal guidelines for the Information Society
The European Union's "Legal Advisory Board" (LAB) was established by the European Commission, in May 1985, with the aim of increasing awareness of the legal challenges raised by the development of the Information Society. The LAB is, inter alia, responsible for submitting ideas and recommendations to the Commission on eliminating disparities and aligning national legal provisions. The Information Society is developing so rapidly that it has already changed, or made obsolete, many long-standing market rules and business practices. We are being made increasingly aware of the effects of these changes on our daily lives and it is becoming clear that many of the existing legal tools may not be appropriate for the realities of today's "electronic marketplace". The members of the LAB are experts drawn from a variety of professional backgrounds related to the legal profession, including academics and practising lawyers, and lawyers working for government departments and commercial companies. Although they are not invited as representatives of their Member States, the Commission ensures that all Member States are represented. Under the guidance of its chairman, Dr. Herbert Burkert, the LAB focuses on the following areas: - Access to public sector information; - Computer crime; - Consumer protection in electronic transactions; - Convergence between telecommunications and audio-visual technologies; - Data protection; - Intellectual property issues. The LAB currently has Task Forces examining the topics of access, convergence and intellectual property. In addition to this work, the entire LAB membership meets two or three times yearly. This year, LAB members met in April to discuss "Convergence between telecommunications and audiovisual". They also met within the framework of the June 1996 conference, in Stockholm, entitled "Access to Public Information: a key to commercial growth and electronic democracy". The conference, organized by DG XIII of the European Commission and chaired by the LAB chairman, Dr. Herbert Burkert, was attended by over 300 participants. Discussions focused on issues relating to public access to information and structures for making information available. Most recently, LAB members met to discuss the issue of computer crime at a conference held in Brussels, Belgium, on 25 November 1996. The conference examined a special report on computer crime prepared by Prof. Ulrich Sieber and discussed issues relating to recent Community initiatives in this area, including: the recent EU Communication on illegal and harmful content on the Internet; and the Green Paper on Protection of Minors and Human Dignity.