On 4 November, the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law hosted the “Conference on Private and public enforcement of EU economic law: competition, financial markets and data protection – commonalities and perspectives” at its premises.
The overall aim of the event was to examine how public and private actors enforce – and interact when enforcing - competition, financial markets and data protection laws in the EU. Questions on the choice between public and private enforcement, requirements of the different legal fields, the independence of private enforcement, the calculation of damages, access to information, and the role of collective redress were among the topics addressed at the conference.
Over the course of two hours each, three panels discussed one of the abovementioned economic laws, deliberating on the differences and similarities in their application. The panels featured a key speaker who gave an introductory presentation on the current public and private enforcement of their respective law. Panelists then presented their point of view on the subject matter, followed by a discussion and Q&A session.
Roberta Oertel, head of the Awareness department at the CNPD, was one of the panellists discussing commonalities and developments in the implementation of data protection law in the EU, alongside Paul Nemitz from the European Commission and Wolfgang Wurmnest from the University of Hamburg. Burkhard Hess from the Max Planck Luxembourg and Mark Cole from the University of Luxembourg also spoke during the panel session.
The conference highlighted various approaches regarding the enforcement of EU economic law and provided experts from different fields with an opportunity to learn from one another.