Brussels Privacy Symposium 2023 Report

The seventh edition of the Brussels Privacy Symposium, jointly co-organized by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Brussels Privacy Hub, took place at the U-Residence of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel campus on November 14, 2023. The Symposium presented a key opportunity for a global, interdisciplinary convening to discuss one of the most important topics facing Europe’s digital society today and in the years to come: “Understanding the EU Data Strategy Architecture: Common Threads – Points of Juncture – Incongruities.” 

With the program of the Symposium, the organizers aimed to transversally explore three key topics that cut through the Data Strategy legislative package of the EU and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), painting an intricate picture of interplay that leaves room for tension, convergence, and the balancing of different interests and policy goals pursued by each new law. Throughout the day, participants debated the possible paradigm shift introduced by the push for access to data in the Data Strategy Package, the network of impact assessments from the GDPR to the Digital Services Act (DSA) and EU AI Act, and debated the future of enforcement of a new set of data laws in Europe. 
Attendees were welcomed by Dr Gianclaudio Malgieri, Associate Professor of Law & Technology at Leiden University and co-Director of the Brussels Privacy Hub, and Jules Polonetsky, CEO at the Future of Privacy Forum. In addition to three expert panels, the Symposium opened with Keynote addresses by Commissioner Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, and Wojciech Wiewiórowski, the European Data Protection Supervisor. Commissioner Reynders specifically highlighted that the GDPR remains the “cornerstone of the EU digital regulatory framework” when it comes to the processing of personal data, while Supervisor Wiewiórowski cautioned that “we need to ensure the data protection standards that we fought for, throughout many years, will not be adversely impacted by the new rules.” In the afternoon, attendees engaged in a brainstorming exercise in four different breakout sessions, and the Vice-Chair of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), Irene Loizidou Nikolaidou, gave her closing remarks to end the conference.

The following Report outlines some of the most important outcomes from the day’s conversations, highlighting the ways and places in which the EU Data Strategy Package overlaps, interacts, supports, or creates tension with key provisions of the GDPR. The Report is divided into six sections: the above general introduction; the ensuing section which provides a summary of the Opening Remarks; the next three sections which provide insights into the panel discussions; and the sixth and final section which provides a brief summary of the EDPB Vice-Chair’s Closing Remarks.

Editor: Alexander Thompson