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stakeholder body it convened in 2009 to help concerns about data privacy. In response, the
develop necessary standards. Initially, NIST staff European Court of Justice expanded existing Chapter 4
held key leadership and technical roles on the SGIP. privacy directives to include a “right to be delisted”
However, in response to a changing environment that spans jurisdictions. The changes wrought by
and the increased maturity of the smart grid higher levels of interoperability in the technology
industry, in 2013 NIST transitioned SGIP into an sector are prompting calls for new forms of legal
industry-led non-profit organization. By October interoperability.
2013, SGIP had more than 200 members, and it
had finalized 56 standards. Governments have several options to increase
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levels of legal interoperability. The point is not to
make the systems all the same but rather to make
4.6.2 Role of governments as legal stewards them work together in particular ways. It is not
necessary for countries to turn over all legislative
Governments can also shape an important part authority to the United Nations or to create a
of the institutional layer of interop in their role as raft of new treaties that govern all jurisdictions.
caretakers of a robust and stable legal framework. It is not possible to smooth out all cultural or
The future success of emerging complex systems, legal differences through harmonization of laws.
such as cloud computing, will depend not just on Nor should it be the goal to create one uniform
market forces but also on a well-developed legal “world law.” Jurisdictions compete productively
environment. Governments must establish trust against one another, and learn from each other,
and legal certainty for both users and providers of by experimenting with new laws and policies.
future interoperable systems. Governments need to aim for interoperability
among legal systems at an optimal level, rather
The relationships between interop and the law than a maximum level, just as they do with other
are many, complex, and tangled. The law can interop challenges.
help establish, adjust, or maintain interop. At the
same time, interoperability is also a feature of the It is important to find this optimal level, because
legal system itself. Legal interoperability, broadly evidence suggests that legal interoperability,
defined, is the process of making legal norms work especially in the information economy, drives
together across jurisdictions. This may occur either innovation, competition, trade, and economic
within the legal system of a single nation-state— growth. For instance, when China joined the World
between national and local legislation—or across Trade Organization in 2001, it had to change many
national lines. Like technical interoperability, legal laws and enact new ones to satisfy the demands
interoperability is not a goal in itself but, rather, a of its trading partners. China has made large-scale
means to one or more ends. changes, for instance, in its system of intellectual
property law. Though Chinese law is not the same
The relationship between law and interoperability as intellectual property law in the United States or
is multidirectional. Higher levels of interop are Europe, it is dramatically closer to those standards
often the product of carefully designed legal today than it was a few decades ago.
interventions—or, at least, are fashioned in
the shadow of the law. One example of this is The EU faces a similar challenge today in aligning
the enforcement of competition law against online commerce rules with the divergent
powerful technology companies trying to leverage copyright, contract, and VAT laws of “28 national
their market power by excluding competitors. markets.” As part of its Digital Single Market
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The mandated disclosure of interoperability objective, the European Commission has proposed
information as a matter of consumer protection is 16 initiatives to bring about greater levels of legal
another. interop.
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Conversely, interoperability itself can prompt This level of legal interop, however, comes
calls for new laws to address its effects; it may with challenges. As legal interop increases,
also lead to the adjustment or reinterpretation companies find it feasible to enter markets that
of existing legal norms. As an example, consider were previously off limits. But those companies
the relationship between interoperability and frequently face challenging legal questions that
privacy. Technical interoperability leads to require them to reconcile competing law and

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