Between Public and Private Norm Setting: Citizen Marginalization and Legal Uncertainty in the EU AI Act

This event is co-organized by three research centres of the HKU Faculty of Law: Law and Technology Centre, Centre for Private Law, and the Centre for Comparative and Public Law.

Date: January 29, 2026 (Thursday)

Time: 1pm – 2pm

Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F Cheng Yu Tung Tower, The University of Hong Kong

Speaker: Iris Eisenberger (Professor of Innovation and Public Law, University of Vienna)

This talk critically examines the European Union’s AI Act through a doctrinal legal lens, revealing fundamental tensions between public oversight and private sector influence. The analysis shows that while the Act creates formal channels for industry stakeholder involvement in norm setting, it fails to institutionalize meaningful citizen participation – despite their role as the primary subjects of AI-related risks. Furthermore, the Act’s reliance on non-binding public and private norms, such as guidelines, templates, standards, and voluntary code of conducts, generates significant legal uncertainty for providers and deployers, potentially undermining compliance obligations. These findings provide insights for other jurisdictions currently developing regulatory frameworks seeking to balance risks and innovation.

Iris Eisenberger is Professor of Innovation and Public Law at the Department of Innovation and Digitalisation in Law at the Faculty of Law (University of Vienna). Her work focuses on innovation and technology law, the protection of fundamental and human rights and research at the intersection of law, innovation and society.

Moderator: Eliza Mik, Assistant Professor of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Eliza Mik teaches Legal Technologies, E-Commerce Law and Contract Law at the Faculty of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research interests focus on the legal aspects of transaction automation, with special focus on smart contracts and the integration of Artificial Intelligence into commercial workstreams. Before joining academia, she worked in-house for a number of software and telecommunications companies in Australia, Poland, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates, advising on technology procurement, software licensing and e-commerce regulation.

To register, please go to https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=104797.

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