The Interaction of Technical Standards and Public Regulation: Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity

Speaker: Irene Kamara (Associate Professor, Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society)

Technical standards are seamlessly integrated in our everyday lives: USB C cables, A4 papers, safe toys, the HTTPS, are all based on very well-known technical standards. However, technical standards also serve other functions: translating legal principles to machine readable requirements, harmonizing terminology, providing good practices on how to comply with the law.

In areas of fast-paced technological developments, such as in the case of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, legislators often rely on technical standardisation to help achieve regulatory goals.

This lecture investigates technical standardisation in relation to public regulation in the context of European cybersecurity and AI law. It examines how technical standards are mobilised as regulatory instruments to achieve legally binding objectives across the digital single market. Using cybersecurity and AI as case studies, the lecture highlights the benefits and challenges of entrusting private standardisation organisations with quasi-regulatory functions, particularly in relation to legitimacy, inclusiveness, and accountability. It argues that while standardisation can complement legislation by providing flexible, evidence-based solutions, it also raises critical questions of democratic oversight, institutional balance, and stakeholder participation.

Irene Kamara is an Associate Professor and Research Coordinator at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society in the Netherlands, and a qualified attorney-at-law. Since 2026 she coordinates Digital Legal Studies, a research partnership of four Dutch law schools under the Law Sector Plan of the Dutch Ministry of Education. Irene is member of the European AI Board, the advisory body on the EU AI Act. Her research collaborations include the European Commission, the European Cybersecurity Agency, the Dutch National Cyber Security Agency, and the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security. Irene was honoured with the 2021 Standards+Innovation Individual Researcher award from the European Standardisation Organisations CEN/CENELEC and an Early Career Partnership from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) in 2025. Her monograph, Standardizing Data Protection, published by Oxford University Press, has received a best book award by the American Society of International Law (IL&TEch Interest Group).

Moderator: Marianne von Blomberg, Global Academic Fellow, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law

To register, please go to https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=109959.

For inquiries, please contact Ms. Grace Chan at mcgrace@hku.hk / 3917 4727.