Experimental legal regimes as a tool to counteract technology dehumanization

This article analyzes experimental legal regimes as a way to prevent abuse and infringement of basic human rights amid the large-scale adoption of cutting-edge technologies and innovations. Experimental legal regimes, such as “regulatory sandboxes”, are structured frameworks permitting the development and testing of innovative solutions, including regulatory ones, within an isolated and supervised environment. The characteristics of experimental regulatory tools were investigated from the perspective of the economic analysis of law, emphasizing the need to use their regulatory flexibility, responsiveness, and focus on practical outcomes in order to test new technological solutions safely. The method of comparative legal research was employed to correlate different approaches to the use of experimental legal regimes in various countries and integration associations. With the help of legal modeling, a hypothetical construction of “regulatory sandboxes” promoting universal human values was developed. The analysis of the current legislation, legal practice, and scholarly literature revealed that experimental legal regimes are not inherently a universal solution for the humane deployment of innovations. However, they can counteract dehumanization when guided by thoughtful legal strategies and value-based enforcement. A list of principles (inadmissibility of human rights violations, voluntary participation, transparency, openness, ensuring the safety of individuals and society) that could be incorporated when stipulating the concept of using “sandboxes” within the Eurasian Economic Union was presented.