Xavier Groussot

This paper discusses the role of fundamental rights in the EU’s legislation on digitalisation, with a particular focus on the proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). As the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is receiving an increasingly prominent role in regulating the digital sphere in order to rectify the increasing challenges of a ‘wild West’ internet, the constitutional principles of digital transparency and digital sovereignty form an integral part of this development. However, as will be shown, these principles do not go unchallenged and conflicts occur even at the same level with other fundamental rights which requires a balance to be struck by the legislator in order to avoid lengthy litigation. This paper argues that despite the EU’s greater emphasis on fundamental rights in the recent legislative proposals on digitalisation and its manifestation as a global actor in this field, striking the right balance remains a work in progress.