FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED: HUMAN RIGHTS AT STAKE
FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED: HUMAN RIGHTS AT STAKE

Summary/Abstract: Resource allocation naturally involves to some extent a competition, apart from the eligibility criteria, which sort out some of the potential applicants. Those left in the competition have to beranked or are subject to a randomization process, at the end of which some succeed and others are left out. The first come, first served allocation and ranking principle is not inherently discriminatory and does not affect equal opportunities, but applied in a large-scale digital competition with tens of thousands of potential beneficiaries of different ages, with different backgrounds and having different levels of education, who have only seconds to complete an on-line application form, it generates unintended effects, some of which distort competition, infringe fundamental human rights and force people to take risks regarding the security of their personal data. This is an issue for many of the government funding programmes run by the Environmental Fund Administration, including the “Photovoltaic Green House” programme, in an era where technological advances seem to widen the gap between the digitally educated ones and those left behind, especially in the case of Romania.This study aims to analyse how such a system of allocation can create human rights concerns and, in the way it is applied, how public authorities may depart from the broader concept of good administration.

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