In short
Neurotechnologies refers to devices and procedures used to access, monitor, investigate, assess, manipulate, and/or emulate the structure and function of the neural systems of natural persons.
This policy brief sets out recommendations based on the regulatory priorities related to neurotechnologies that were identified in our analysis of EU laws and policies. We address them to EU policymakers and officials involved in the preparation of legislative or policy initiatives related to neurotechnologies, medical devices, dual-use items, privacy and data protection, and AI systems.
To protect and uphold ethical, legal and fundamental rights considerations in the development and deployment of neurotechnologies, TechEthos encourages policy makers to:
- Recognise and define neurorights within the EU’s existing fundamental rights frameworks;
- Clarify the legal status of brain and other neural data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR);
- Address justice, equality and discrimination gaps in neurotechnology applications and use casesA use case is the carrying out of the procedure of a technique in a particular context [...] More;
- Monitor and evaluate the adequacy of existing regulatory frameworks governing emerging use cases of neurotechnologies, such as consumer and dual-use applications;
- Consider the appropriate types of legal or policy instruments for the regulation of neurotechnologies in the EU;
- Clarify the regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based neurotechnologies and consider specific use cases in the classification of neurotechnologies under the proposed AI Act.
Find out more about each recommendation by downloading the policy brief below.
Author
Julie Vinders, Trilateral Research (TRI), Ben Howkins, TRI.
Date of publication
28 February 2023
Cite this resource
Vinders, J., Howkins, B. (2023). Enhancing EU legal frameworks for Neurotechnologies. Extract from Deliverable 6.2 for the European Commission. TechEthos Project Deliverable. Available at: www.techethos.eu
