Information Obligation as a Balancing Tool in the Context of Active and Assisted Living

This contribution aims to present information obligation as an important balancing tool in the context of Active and Assisted Living (AAL). The importance of being informed is emphasised in economics, social life, and law. In the context of AAL, there is a potential informational imbalance, which has three aspects: 1. The market position of the consumer. 2. Processing of personal data. 3. Understanding of technologies. Those imbalances may influence the perception of AAL and its acceptance by people. An information obligation may be a proper tool to solve the problem of informational imbalance. Therefore, two key European legal acts, the General Data Protection Regulation and the AI Act, proposed in 2021, establish various information obligations. Those obligations must be carried out effectively. The three most crucial consequences of the acts are as follows: 1. In case of a legal dispute concerning the information obligation, the burden of proof is on the provider of the product. 2. Providers of the AAL
systems should deliver information in an intelligible way. 3. The form in which information is given shall be harmonised to enhance the comparability of products. This does not have to be done by legal regulation, but can be implemented by the industry itself (in a form of technical standards or a code of best practices). Experiences from the field of European banking and investment law may be used to effectively fulfil information obligation in the context of AAL. In the conclusions, practical consequences of the role of information obligation will be discussed. The reflection takes stock of three aspects of information obligation as a balancing tool: 1. Its importance. 2. Its sufficiency. 3. The most needed improvements.