The APDCAT participates in Brussels in the 19th CPDP International Conference

The Catalan Data Protection Authority (APDCAT) is participating in the 19th International Conference on Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP), which is being held from 19 to 22 May in Brussels, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the General Data Protection Regulation, and with the aim of focusing on its successes and limitations, in a context marked by recent proposals for simplification in favour of innovation and competitiveness.

Specifically, the APDCAT will organise the panel ‘Data, EU's digital rules and DPDs’ on Wednesday 20 May at 11.50am, to analyse the European framework of recent digital rules that directly impact data protection and pose new challenges for data protection officers (DPOs). It will thus serve to debate how the AI ​​Regulation, the Data Regulation, the Digital Services Regulation and the Digital Markets Regulation affect the role of DPOs in practice. Specifically, in their role and functions, their independence and responsibility.

Moderated by Olga Rierola Forcada, head of the DPO Register and training and cooperation programs of the Catalan Data Protection Authority, the session will feature the participation of experts in the international field. Specifically, with Marit Hansen, data protection commissioner of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein; Emese Savoia Keleti, DPO of the Diplomatic Service of the European Union; Esther García Encinas, head of the Privacy and AI Office of CaixaBank; and Daniele Nardi, technician of the legal service of the European Data Protection Supervisor.

Among other topics, it will address how the EU digital regulatory landscape expands the role of DPOs in practice and how they feel about this new situation, which EU digital regulations most directly impact the daily work of DPOs beyond the GDPR, to what extent DPOs are expected to take on additional responsibilities as regulatory obligations overlap, and what safeguards are necessary to allow DPOs to perform their functions effectively, while preserving their independence and the absence of conflicts of interest.

Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP)  is a non-profit platform founded in 2007 by research groups at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Université de Namur, and Tilburg University, later joined by INRIA and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research. Today, CPDP is carried by 20 academic centres of excellence from the EU, the US, and beyond. Based in Brussels, CPDP has become a world-leading multidisciplinary conference, convening a global community across research, policy, practice, civil society, and technology to engage with cutting-edge developments in privacy and data protection.