Source: UniTrentoMag

Europe’s digital regulatory framework is being transformed by three major EU acts—the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act—and the book examines how these instruments are implemented in practice across five Member States: Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Estonia. The analysis prioritizes implementation and institutional impact, focusing on enforcement challenges, institutional transformations and unintended consequences that arise at the national level. The volume integrates legal, economic and institutional perspectives to reveal tensions between national regulatory autonomy and European harmonization, showing varied governance models and diverging national responses ranging from proactive enforcement to cautious or fragmented approaches.

The first section addresses the AI Act (referred to as EU Reg. 2024/1689) and its implications for national regulatory frameworks and administrative systems, including the uses of AI by public administrations, evolving legal frameworks developed by courts and legislators, and new administrative law principles designed to mitigate risks. It also investigates organizational and institutional changes necessary for effective national responses. The second section analyzes the institutional arrangements adopted to implement the DMA and DSA, examining the roles of national competition authorities, data protection agencies and newly designated Digital Services Coordinators, and highlighting coordination challenges and trade-offs linked to overlapping national and EU-level enforcement responsibilities. The essays aim to provide policymakers, scholars and industry stakeholders with comparative insights, best practices and identification of regulatory blind spots, ultimately underscoring the need for adaptive, well-coordinated regulatory frameworks.