European Union: Announced launch of European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency under the Digital Services Act

On 17 April 2023, the European Commission announced that the European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT) would be officially inaugurated on 18 April 2023. The ECAT is being created in compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA), which imposes risk management requirements for companies designated by the European Commission as “very large online platforms” and “very large online search engines”. In particular, the ECAT will provide the Commission with technical and scientific expertise to ensure that algorithmic systems used by very large online platforms and very large online search engines comply with the risk management, mitigation and transparency requirements in the DSA. In addition, the ECTA will investigate the long-term societal impact of algorithms.