Secure the embedding of ‘equality-by-design' principles into European AI standards
Our cross-disciplinary legal experts will represent Equinet which, thanks to its ‘Liaison’ status within CEN/CENELEC, is entitled to participate in JTC21 working groups. We will bring our legal and ethical knowledge about fundamental rights protection, particularly the right to protection from unfair discrimination, into JTC21 standards-drafting discussions, strategically identifying those workstreams and technical development which are likely to have significant implications for equality and fundamental rights protection. Yeung and Shaw are advocating for, and seeking to embed, ‘equality by design, deliberation and oversight’ into the JTC21 standards now being drafted, while seeking to raise awareness and deepen understanding of participating technical experts of the need for practical, meaningful and effective rights-protection mechanisms.
Within JTC21, we are currently focusing our participation in
Working Group 2 (Operational Aspects):
The drafting of the Risk Management standard (Article 9 EU AI Act) work to help support the development of technical standards that will enable proper identification, evaluation of ‘fundamental rights risks’, particularly to rights to non-discrimination , that may be produced by AI systems. We will also participate in drafting the standards for Quality Management Systems which providers of high-risk AI systems must put in place pursuant to Art 17 EU AI Act.
Working Group 4 (Foundational and Societal Aspects):
‘Trustworthiness framework’ focusing particularly on the requirements concerning Art 12 (record keeping), Art 13 (transparency and information provision) and Art 14 (human oversight) given their role and importance in upholding and protecting equality and fundamental rights from AI-generated interference.
Working Group 3 (Engineering Aspects):
Development of standardisation on data quality and governance, including bias in AI systems and AI aided decision-making (Art 10)
Related | More Information
Alan Turing Institute: Webinar
Implementing the EU AI Act through standards: Updates from CEN-CENELEC JTC 21
Policy Brief and Public Engagement Report
Securing Meaningful Fundamental Rights Protection: Towards a Truly New Approach to European Technical Standards for Data Informed Applications and Services