Research

The unit focuses its research on two areas related to innovation in the context of law. One area aims to identify and understand—in light of new market offerings and behaviors—what legal innovations are being created.
The other area analyzes the legal framework governing innovative products resulting from digital technologies.

The team’s research serves as an important foundation for the courses it offers at the master’s and university certificate levels: consumption, distribution, and competition; intellectual property and digital issues; and food.

Tool for Analyzing Compliance with Contractual Provisions

Project: Institute for Research on Law and Justice
Coordinated by the Innovation, Communication, and Market Laboratory
(UR_UM213), University of Montpellier and CNRS

Research Objective

Developing an automated system to verify compliance with general terms and conditions of sale or use available online The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to build a computer system capable of both identifying general contractual terms on websites and analyzing the provisions they contain to trigger an alert when they do not comply with regulations, case law, or institutional guidance. The project’s initiators began with the observation that the information contained in general terms and conditions of sale or use is too often poorly understood by the individuals the law is intended to protect (primarily consumers), and that regulatory authorities currently lack the means to systematically analyze them. The goal is to move from a monitoring system based exclusively on sampling practices (where agents target specific behaviors within a broader set for analysis) to a systematic analysis focused on potentially harmful practices, thereby broadening the scope of regulatory oversight. The goal is to develop a digital tool that makes the legal information contained therein accessible. This tool could analyze the compliance with current regulations of products or services available on the market that have their privacy policies posted online. Ultimately, such a system aims to screen all contractual practices published online.

As a first step, prior to any systematic monitoring of websites and the Terms of Use or Terms and Conditions they contain (via web crawlers), the project is developing a tool to analyze the provisions submitted to it on an individual basis. It aims to address a twofold challenge: to provide an answer that is as accurate as possible (the “accurate” answer being the one that most closely approximates what a judge—assuming the role can be reduced to an abstraction—would have ruled) and, since the goal is to offer these solutions both to specialists (the DGCCRF has a similar project) and to consumers as litigants, to provide all the explanatory details behind this solution. This research project involves several research laboratories from different disciplines. The project is led by the Innovation, Communication, and Market Laboratory, in collaboration with the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics and the LHUMAIN laboratory.

Participants in the project include Mr. Malo Depincé, Professor (HDR) at the University of Montpellier, specializing in consumer law and contract law; Ms. Gwenaëlle Donadieu, Ph.D. from the University of Montpellier, specializing in consumer and contract law; Mr. Laurent Fauré, Assistant Professor (MCF) at the University of Montpellier 3, specializing in linguistics; Mr. Mathieu Lafourcade, Associate Professor (HDR) at the University of Montpellier, specializing in computer science, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing; Ms. Anne Laurent, Professor at the University of Montpellier, specializing in computer science, AI, and data; and Ms. Agnès Robin, Associate Professor (HDR) at the University of Montpellier, specializing in intellectual property law.

HUman at Home Project

This project brings together 13 scientific laboratories working across disciplines and in collaboration with industry and institutions to explore and anticipate new uses and behaviors, while seeking to prevent and guard against ethical and practical abuses that might arise in the homes of the future.  This longitudinal in vivo study provides an opportunity to examine not only usage patterns and human-machine interactions in a connected apartment, but also, more broadly, the components and conditions of well-being and quality of life in a connected environment.

CommonData

The project aims to foster a collective discussion among various disciplinary fields within the Montpellier scientific community regarding the legal and social dimensions of scientific data and the practices of researchers and institutions. Due to developments in science and technology and their socio-economic environment, the production of “research data” constitutes a growing portion of the results of scientific activity, which increasingly take the form of research “data.” Scientific activity most often requires the creation of data sets, both digital (measurements, surveys, recordings) and physical (collections). After initially serving as a tool to facilitate work—particularly for data acquisition and management—digital technology has also established itself in research as a powerful means of data analysis and has become integral to many research activities.

The project’s initiators began with the observation that the information contained in general terms and conditions of sale or use is too often poorly understood by the individuals the law is intended to protect (primarily consumers), and that regulatory authorities currently lack the means to systematically analyze these terms. The goal is to move from a monitoring system based exclusively on sampling practices—where agents target specific behaviors within a broader set for analysis—to a systematic analysis focused on potentially harmful practices, thereby broadening the scope of regulatory oversight. The goal is to develop a digital tool that makes the legal information contained therein accessible. This tool could analyze the compliance with current regulations of products or services available on the market that have their privacy policies posted online. Ultimately, such a system aims to screen all contractual practices published online.
Initially, prior to any systematic monitoring of websites and the Terms of Use or Terms and Conditions they contain (via web scraping bots), the project is developing a tool to analyze the provisions submitted to it on an individual basis. It aims to address a twofold challenge: to provide an answer that is as accurate as possible (the “accurate” answer being the one that most closely approximates what a judge—assuming the role can be reduced to an abstraction—would have ruled) and, since the goal is to offer these solutions both to specialists (the DGCCRF has a similar project) and to consumers seeking legal recourse, to provide all the explanatory details behind this solution. This research project involves several research laboratories from different disciplines. The project is led by the Innovation, Communication, and Market Laboratory, in collaboration with the Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics, and Microelectronics and the LHUMAIN laboratory.

Participants in the project include Mr. Malo Depincé, Associate Professor (MCF) with HDR status at the University of Montpellier, specializing in consumer law and contract law; Ms. Gwenaëlle Donadieu, Ph.D. from the University of Montpellier, specializing in consumer law and contract law; Mr. Laurent Fauré, Associate Professor (MCF) at the University of Montpellier 3, specializing in linguistics; Mr. Mathieu Lafourcade, Associate Professor (MCF HDR) at the University of Montpellier, specializing in computer science, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing; Ms. Anne Laurent, Professor at the University of Montpellier, specializing in computer science, AI, and data; and Ms. Agnès Robin, Associate Professor (MCF HDR) at the University of Montpellier, specializing in intellectual property law.

Steering Committee

Francesca FRONTINI, Associate Professor of Linguistics, UMR Praxiling / Paul-Valéry University of Montpellier
Benoît HUMBLOT, Lecturer and Researcher in Private Law, EPF, LICeM / University of Montpellier
Pierre-Yves LACOUR, Associate Professor of History, UMR CRISES / Paul-Valéry University of Montpellier
Julien MARY, Scientific Advisor at MSH SUD

Coordinator

Agnès ROBIN, Associate Professor (HDR) of Private Law, LICeM / University of Montpellier

ACC SOINS Program

Assessment of the impact of legislative and regulatory measures on access to medical care in Occitanie in areas characterized by insufficient healthcare services or difficulties in accessing medical care.

Research project led by Cécile Le Gal Fontés

General Project Description

The French healthcare system appears to be effective but remains inequitable, particularly in terms of regional equality of access to medical care (1). This situation is reflected, in particular, by the growing number of underserved areas or those already experiencing a shortage of medical professionals (characterized by an insufficient number of healthcare professionals and facilities). Two million French people are currently affected by medical desertification, and regional inequalities continue to grow (2). Over the past several years, numerous legislative and regulatory measures have been adopted as part of recent health policies, aiming to reduce regional inequalities in access to care and thereby improve continuity of care in the aforementioned areas (3). These measures have notably focused on the development of telemedicine, incentives for healthcare professionals to set up practice in vulnerable areas, the development of healthcare coordination structures (health networks, multiprofessional health centers (MSPs), health centers, regional platforms, Regional Professional Health Communities…), as well as the development of digital tools to promote continuity of care and optimize resources (telemedicine, DMP (4), DP (5), etc.).

As part of a three-phase project, we propose to assess the impact of the rollout of various initiatives on regional disparities in access to healthcare in order to optimize the use of resources.

In the first phase (late July 2024), we conducted a pilot study in areas defined as “under-served” by the Occitanie Regional Health Agency (ARS). The goal of this phase was to estimate and describe changes in patient care utilization patterns over three time periods (before the rollout of the systems, during their gradual implementation, and after the initial ramp-up) in the Occitanie region. Thus, with improved coordination and the rollout of digital tools such as the DMP and teleconsultations, better access to care is expected. This should result in an increase in healthcare utilization in these areas. This initial study received initial regional funding (decree dated October 29, 2019, from the Occitanie Region). This first phase concluded in September 2023 with the completion of data analysis and the drafting of the activity report. Two publications are currently being submitted (RGDM and RDSS), and a conference is in the works (scheduled as part of ALASS, July 2024, Liège).

The second phase of the project involves establishing an international Francophone network to assess the various measures implemented in these countries and to study their impact on regional disparities in access to healthcare. This comparative analysis may lead to proposals for improving France’s policy to address this public health issue.

Finally, the last phase will consist of proposing joint international studies aimed at evaluating the common legislative and regulatory frameworks that were validated (due to their effectiveness) during the previous stages. It will focus on studying their impact in each of these countries. The factors determining the effectiveness of the tested frameworks—if such effectiveness is demonstrated—will be highlighted.