In the first of four interviews, a general presentation of ELI was given. It was accompanied by a call to the French legal community to be more involved in the Institute’s work (see Recueil Dalloz, 21 September 2023, no 31). Subsequent publications focus on ELI’s three project pillars, namely digital technology, the rule of law and sustainability.
The second interview was given by Marc Clément (judge at the Administrative Court of Lyon, Member of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, Co-Chair of the ELI French Hub and Co-Reporter of the ELI Model Rules on Impact Assessment of Algorithmic Decision-Making Systems Used by Public Administration) and Juliette Sénéchal (Associate Professor of Private Law at the University of Lille and Co-Reporter of ELI’s Principles on Blockchain Technology, Smart Contracts and Consumer Protection (until January 2021).
In their forthcoming piece, Marc Clément and Juliette Sénéchal underscored Europe's pivotal role in shaping laws in the realm of digitalisation, stressing its desire to opt for rules that protect citizens, while providing space for businesses to innovate. They go on to list ELI’s past, current and future projects in this field as well as the role of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) within the Institute – singling out ELI's Digital Law SIG in particular – which make it possible, outside of projects, to stimulate exchanges between European lawyers on a given theme.
Responding to the question of whether French presence on these projects is sufficient, Marc Clément and Juliette Sénéchal emphasise the scope for further strengthening, adding that French lawyers must dialogue with their European counterparts to make the contribution of the French legal tradition felt: ‘What is put in place today will define the future normative framework in which economic actors will operate and which will be implemented by the courts. It is difficult not to consider that determining directions for the future are at stake here’.
Both conclude the piece by enumerating the various benefits of being an ELI member, including the ability to cooperate on an intellectual level with colleagues from various vocations across Europe is rich and complex exercises that aim at improving the quality of law.
Dalloz is a French publisher known for its encyclopedia of law that spans across different branches of law.
