European Digital Rights and Principles

Technology should serve and benefit all people living in the EU and empower them to pursue their aspirations. It should not infringe upon their security or fundamental rights. 

The EU and its Member States commit to making sure that the digital transformation benefits everyone and improves the lives of all people living in the EU. They take measures to ensure our rights are respected online as well as offline and promote this approach both at home and on the international stage. 

Universal access to inclusive technology that upholds EU rights is essential. Everyone should: 

The EU and its Member States have made committed to leaving no one behind, supporting efforts to equip all education and training institutions, ensuring the right to disconnect from work, and providing a digital identity that gives access to a broad range of online services.

Everyone should be empowered to make their own, informed choices online. This includes when interacting with artificial intelligence systems, which should serve as a tool for people, with the ultimate aim to increase human well-being.  

The EU and Member States notably commit to promote human-centric, trustworthy and ethical artificial intelligence systems, which are used in a transparent way and in line with EU values.

Freedom of choice also includes being free to choose which online services we use, based on objective, transparent and reliable information. This in turn involves making sure businesses are empowered to compete and innovate in the digital world.

Everyone should have access to a trustworthy, diverse and multilingual online environment and should know who owns or controls the services they are using. This encourages pluralistic public debate and participation in democracy.   

The Declaration also highlights the need to create a digital environment that protects people from disinformation, information manipulation and other forms of harmful content including harassment and gender-based violence. It recognises the role of very large online platforms in this context and asks them to mitigate the risks stemming from the functioning and use of their services.  

The EU and Member States notably commit to support effective access to digital content that reflects cultural and linguistic diversity in the EU. 

Everyone should have access to safe, secure and privacy-protective digital technologies, products and services. The EU and Member States notably commit to protect the interests of people, businesses and public services against cybercrime, and to ensure that everyone has effective control over their personal and non-personal data in line with EU law. 

Children and young people should be empowered to make safe and informed choices and express their creativity in the digital environment. The EU and Member States also commits to promote positive experiences for children and young people in an age-appropriate and safe digital environment, and to protect them against harmful and illegal content, exploitation, manipulation and abuse online. 

The digital and green transitions are closely linked. While digital technologies offer many solutions for climate change, we must ensure they do not contribute to the problem themselves. Digital products and services should be designed, produced, and disposed of in a sustainable way.  

The EU and Member States commit to supporting digital technologies with minimal negative environmental and social effects. The aim is to promote digital technologies that have a positive impact on the environment and climate, contributing to the green transition. They also commit to promote sustainability standards and labels for digital products and services, to provide people with more information regarding their environmental impact. 

The European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles offers citizens a bridge to Union digital laws and policies, as it indicates the direction of travel of the Union on its journey to digital transformation.

The Commission monitors the application of digital rights and principles across the EU and publishes its annual monitoring together with the State of the Digital Decade Report. The monitoring report aims to show how much the EU and Member States stay on course during this journey. Through Member States best practices, it aims to inspire further action across the EU.

The Declaration also guides the EU in its international relations, helping to shape a global digital transformation that puts people and human rights at its centre.

The Commission has committed to regularly report to the Parliament and the Council on the progress made in promoting and implementing the Declaration. The 2024 report is available (PDF), along with the supporting study .