07-07-2020
Professor Iris Eisenberger gave a talk concerning “Statistical Modelling & COVID 19: Problems, fundamental rights, and policy requests” on 7 July 2020.
The Brownbag-Event was organised by the Vienna Centre for Societal Security (VICESSE).
In her talk, Iris Eisenberger asked how the legislator could and should react to complex scientific challenges. To tackle the spread of COVID-19, the legislator and the federal government have set measures that were based on statistical models created by different (private) actors.
There are few legal requirements towards such models and the data going into them. Therefore, from a legal perspective, one has to ask if the models used are suited to justify measures that affect fundamental rights.
At the level of European Union law, there are already examples where the European legislator has standardized specific legal requirements for statistical models or simulations, for example in securities law, energy law, or animal health law.
Professor Eisenberger therefore formulated the following policy requests concerning statistical modelling for pandemic control:
- Minimum requirements for data sets (representativity, transparency etc.)
- Transparency of model assumptions
- Minimum requirements for practical execution
- Testing obligations
- Reporting obligations
Iris Eisenberger focuses on constitutional questions arising from the use of statistical modelling in political decision-making also within the field of excellence “Smart Regulation” at the University of Graz.