European studies

VINCENZO VIETRI

Course Description – "Artificial Intelligence, Privacy and Private Law"

The course "Artificial Intelligence, Privacy and Private Law" provides students with the necessary tools to understand the interactions between intelligent technologies, privacy protection, and private law, through an interdisciplinary approach focused on the critical analysis of emerging legal challenges.
1. Knowledge and Understanding
Students will acquire an integrated understanding of the fundamental concepts of artificial intelligence, the right to personal data protection (particularly the GDPR), and the core categories of private law as they apply to digital contexts. The course also explores theoretical and systemic implications of deploying intelligent technologies within legal relationships.
2. Applying Knowledge and Understanding
Students will be able to apply acquired legal tools to analyze real-world cases where AI impacts fundamental rights and private law relations, such as automated decision-making, profiling, and the use of personal data in digital contracts. They will also develop the ability to identify and assess emerging regulatory challenges.
3. Making Judgements
Students will develop the capacity to formulate autonomous and well-reasoned critical judgments regarding the adequacy of existing legal norms, the compatibility between emerging technologies and legal principles, and the identification of appropriate regulatory responses. Ethical implications of technological choices in the legal domain will also be considered.
4. Communication Skills
Students will be able to clearly and rigorously communicate complex legal arguments, both orally and in writing, addressing both specialist and non-specialist audiences (e.g., engineers, legal professionals, policymakers, or the general public).
5. Learning Skills
The course fosters independent and interdisciplinary learning skills, enabling students to critically and proactively follow the evolving legal and technological landscape concerning AI, privacy, and private law, both in academic and professional contexts.

In this course, students will:
- Acquire theoretical and practical knowledge of European private law (especially in light of the European integration process).
- Deepen their analysis of the areas in which European Union legislation has influenced relations between private individuals (i.e., consumer protection, personal data protection, Artificial Intelligence).
- Deepen their knowledge of contract law and civil liability, focusing in particular on the role of general principles and fundamental rights, personal data, and artificial intelligence.
- Analyze the emergence of new rights in the modern context, especially influenced by the emergence of more sophisticated technologies.

There are no prerequisites. However, for a correct and easy understanding of the topics covered during the course, it is important to have a basic knowledge of private law.

EU PRIVATE LAW: THE ROLE OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE - Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence

- The meaning of the term "European Private Law"
• Various sources of European Private Law: regulations and directives, the EU Treaty, the European Charter of Fundamental Rights
• The relevance of case law and the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in building a European legal order
• General principles of law: meaning of "general principles"
• Fundamental rights as general principles of law
• Dignity as a general principle for the protection of the human person
- Case study Omega Spielhallen- und Automatenaufstellungs-GmbH v. Oberbürgermeisterin der Bundesstadt Bonn, C-36/02

FOUR MODELS (French, German, Italian, English models): "EUROPEANIZATION" OF NATIONAL LAW.
• Draft Common Framework of Reference
• Terms and Concepts of European Private Law
• Special Group for the Codification of Community Private Law: Tort, Family
• Principles of European Contract Law (PECL),
- Principles of European Tort Law (PETL)

EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW
. Contract and Contract Law
. General Definition of Contract in Different Legal Systems
• Negotiation and Liability in Four Legal Systems
• Contract Formation, Performance, Termination, and Invalidity
• Risk Assessment
• Force Majeure, Factum Principis: The Coronavirus and Its Effects on Contract Performance

CIVIL LIABILITY FOR TORT
• Tort and Tort Law
• Typical or Atypical Models; Art. 2043 of the Italian Civil Code (Italian Civil Code)
• Leading Continental European Model
- Strict Liability

NEW RIGHTS AND SPECIAL LIABILITIES:

Liability I:S:P: Origins of European Legislation, US Origins, and Intellectual Property Violations
E-Commerce Directive: Trademark and Copyright Infringement
A:I ACT: Risk Approach
A: Generative Law and Copyright Recognition
GDPR and Artificial Intelligence
Concurrent Application of the Consumer Code to the Processing of Personal Data

Definitions of Contract in Different European Legal Systems

The Liability Model for ISPs

The Role of Fundamental Principles in the Construction of European Private Law

G. ALPA-M. ANDENAS, European Private Law, Pacini Giuridica, ed. 2022.

72 hours of lectures are planned. The lectures will aim to provide a solid foundation in the various topics covered in the program.
In addition, exercises will address certain topics in greater detail. This module includes 10 exercises, which will give students the opportunity to further analyze and explore the materials. To maximize the benefits of these exercises, students will complete extensive independent preparation (described for each session under the exercise materials), digesting the required readings and being prepared to discuss them, and preparing responses to selected questions. This preparation will form the basis for discussion during the exercises.

Attendance is not mandatory, but it is recommended.
To be considered an attending student, you must have attended at least seventy percent of the classes.

The student must be able to adequately present the concepts of European private law and artificial intelligence applied to cybersecurity, being able to independently make logical-legal connections within the subject matter, using appropriate legal language.

Definition of Contract
Sources of European Private Law
A.I. Act
GDPR