NORMS BEYOND BORDERS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EU TRADE LAW AND THE AI ACT

Abstract

This analysis looks into the ability of the European Union (EU) to bring out a regulatory power on the international scale with a specific emphasis on a passing relationship between the trade law of the Union and its burgeoning Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act. The tendency of the EU to apply internal regulatory practices in the international market has a long history, which is best noticeable in systems like REACH and CE marking. EU policymakers are facing new challenges in attempting to use a similar approach to the supervision of AI. In line with normative aspirations, the AI Act prioritizes transparency, human integrity and moral responsibility, thus distinguishing itself from the mainly transactional and homogeneous compliance model, characteristic of trade regulations. The principled derogation, however, built into such provisions might envelop extraterritorial diffusion in subtleties because such values are not always welcomed or accepted by the same institutions in various jurisdictions. In this regard, the AI Act contrasts with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) a measure which gained an almost international echo due to its legal clarity as well as major economic coercion. To put it under the prism of comparison, this paper argues that the EU can still be considered a powerful rule-maker; however, the emergence of a fledgling AI system can possibly reduce the ridge of the so-called Brussels Effect.