The DigCon project, funded under the FIS programme and hosted at Bocconi University, explores how fundamental rights can be protected and enforced in what scholars call the AI society: a world where decision-making and governance are increasingly mediated by artificial intelligence and automated systems.
Its mission is to design a kind of constitutional map for the digital age, redefining the balance between individuals, private platforms, and public institutions. Over four years, the project combines comparative legal analysis, technological insight, and empirical research, including elite interviews with policymakers, regulators, and industry actors, to craft a set of enforceable rights and remedies fit for AI governance.
Why this submission matters
The European Commission’s proposal for a Digital Omnibus Regulation, part of the EU’s “Simplification Digital Package”, offers an opportunity to rethink how the EU’s many digital laws interact. The initiative aims to streamline overlapping rules across areas like AI, data protection, cybersecurity, and digital identity.
However, simplification must not come at the expense of fundamental rights or the rule of law. This is where DigCon’s research naturally intersects with EU policymaking. The team’s submission to the targeted stakeholder consultation contributes a constitutional perspective: how to simplify without deregulating; how to make rules clearer, not weaker; and how to ensure individuals can still obtain effective remedies when AI or digital systems affect their rights.
The core of our position
In the submission, the team proposes a vision of “rights-proof simplification”, grounded on three principles:
- Dual legal basis (Articles 114 and 16 TFEU)
The Digital Omnibus should rest on both the internal market (Art. 114) and data protection (Art. 16) legal bases, reflecting the dual goals of efficiency and fundamental rights protection.
- Non-regression of rights
The regulation should include an explicit non-regression clause, ensuring that consolidation or codification will never reduce the existing level of protection guaranteed by EU law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
- Rule of law and AI governance
The Omnibus should strengthen, not weaken, the Fundamental Rights Impact Assessment (FRIA) mechanism introduced in the AI Act, making it an enforceable and reviewable obligation. It should also clarify that the right to explanation enables real contestation; thus, citizens must be able to challenge automated decisions before a court or authority.
To make simplification transparent and credible, the team further suggests that the Commission publish a methodology annexe detailing which acts are being simplified, why, and how rights equivalence will be ensured. This would transform “Better Regulation” from a slogan into an exercise in constitutional accountability.
From research to policy
This submission exemplifies the bridge DigCon seeks to build between academic research and EU policymaking. By linking the legal theory of digital constitutionalism to concrete regulatory debates, the project demonstrates how rigorous scholarship can help institutions design governance frameworks that are both efficient and rights-compliant.
The same approach will guide future DigCon outputs, including the forthcoming Digital Charter, a blueprint for protecting rights, remedies, and democratic values in the AI society.
