Regulatory sandbox

Regulatory Sandboxes have recently gained increasing attention as an effective tool for dealing with new technological phenomena that are legally complex. In many ways, this constitutes a counterpoint or complement to traditional legislative work - which begins with a political assignment and, after processes such as referrals, culminates in legislation. Traditional legislative work takes a long time, can struggle to keep up with technological advancements, and faces challenges in finding the right level of rules that work in practice.

RISE is a natural collaborative partner for those curious about regulatory sandboxes and have an idea they want to test. We can offer knowledge about the process, tools and methods, evaluation, testing space, and more.

Regulatory sandboxes are a tool that can be used to explore new innovative products and services that stands in conflict with existing laws and regulations. This can be done through various forms of exemptions or under regulatory supervision. Regulatory sandboxes are delimited appropriately depending on the context with various types of conditions. The societal benefit of regulatory sandboxes is that an innovation can be tested in reality at an earlier stage, and that teething problems can be discovered before adaptations are made in the legislation. Through regulatory sandboxes, society thus obtains better functioning rules as part of the innovation process.

Regulatory sandboxes are now emerging in more and more areas such as fintech, automated vehicles, drones, energy, telecommunications, and health. Especially within digitalisation, the question of regulatory sandboxes is increasingly highlighted as a way to accelerate innovation (see, for example, recital 71-72 and article 53-55 in the current proposal for the European AI regulation).