Digital Clearinghouse 2.0 - Programme

Opportunities and challenges for effective cross-regulatory cooperation

This panel will take stock of how cross-regulatory cooperation of digital regulators is currently taking place at national, European and international level. Expert speakers will discuss why cooperation is increasingly necessary in a complex regulatory landscape and share their insights on the opportunities and challenges ahead. 

Moderator: Brendan van Alsenoy, Acting Head of Unit, Policy & Legislative Consultation Unit, European Data Protection Supervisor
 

Speakers:

• Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director-General, DG CNECT, European Commission
• John Evans, Digital Services Commissioner, Coimisiún na Meán (IE)
• Bruno Lasserre, Chair, Commission d’Accès aux Documents Administratifs (FR)
• Clarisse Girot, Head of Division for Data Flows, Governance, Privacy and Online Safety, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Open exchange of views with participants

Minding the gap(s): what is missing for horizontal cross-regulatory cooperation to happen

Based on the models and areas currently covered by cross-regulatory cooperation at EU and national levels, expert speakers will identify gaps and challenges to be addressed to ensure a consistent application of different EU digital laws across the European Economic Area.

Moderator: J. Scott Marcus, Associate Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Studies
 

Speakers:

• Jan Penfrat, Senior Policy Advisor EDRi
• Anu Talus, Chair, European Data Protection Board
• Robert Mourik, Vice-Chair, BEREC
• Martijn Snoep, Chairman, Autoriteit Consument & Markt (NL)

Open exchange of views with participants

A roadmap towards cross-regulatory cooperation at scale

Speakers will propose ways of increasing cross-regulatory cooperation ‘at scale’, taking into account the plurality of regulators, jurisdictions and instruments. How can a horizontal cross-regulatory forum at EU-level effectively contribute to alignment of enforcement practices? What would be the prerequisites of an effective EU-level ‘forum of fora’ to foster cross-regulatory cooperation?

Moderator: Orla Lynskey, University College London
 

Speakers:

• Michael König, Head of Unit, DG COMP, European Commission
• Kai Zenner, Head of Office and Digital Policy Adviser for MEP Axel Voss
• Agustín Reyna, Director General BEUC
• Gary Davis, Senior Director Regulatory Legal, Apple

Open exchange of views with participants

SPECIAL EVENT

Data Protection Day celebrations organised by the Polish Permanent Representation to the EU, Av. De Cortenbergh 16, 1000 Brussels.

We are happy to invite you to the Data Protection Day Celebration event organised by the Permanent Representation of Poland and the Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs on 27 January 2026 from 18.00 to 22.00. 

Separate registration is required – please register here. 

Wojciech Wiewiórowski, European Data Protection Supervisor

Wojciech Wiewiórowski has been the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) since December 6th 2019.

He is also an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk. He was, among others, an adviser in the field of e-government and information society for the Minister of Interior and Administration, and the Director of the Informatisation Department at the Ministry of Interior and Administration in Poland. He also represented Poland in the committee on Interoperability Solutions for European Public Administrations (the ISA Committee) assisting the European Commission.

Wojciech Wiewiórowski was also the Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data (Polish Data Protection Commissioner) between 2010-2014 and the Vice Chair of the Working Party Article 29 in 2014. In December 2014, he was appointed Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor. After the death of the Supervisor - Giovanni Buttarelli in August 2019 - he replaced Mr. Buttarelli as acting EDPS.

His areas of scientific activity include first of all Polish and European IT law, processing and security of information, legal information retrieval systems, informatisation of public administration, and application of new IT tools (semantic web, legal ontologies, cloud, blockchain) in legal information processing.

Alexandre de Streel, CERRE and Namur University

Alexandre de Streel is professor of European law at the University of Namur and visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and SciencesPo Paris. He is also academic director of the digital research programme at the Brussels think-tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) and member of decision panel at the Belgian Competition Authority. He sits in the scientific committees of the Knight-Georgetown Institute (US), the European University Institute-Centre for a Digital Society (Italy) and Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (Germany).

His main research areas are the regulation and the application of competition policy in the digital economy (telecommunications, platforms and data) as well as the legal issues raised by the developments of artificial intelligence. He regulatory advises the European Union and international organisations on digital regulation.

Previously, Alexandre held visiting positions at New York University Law School, European University Institute in Florence, Panthéon-Assas (Singapore campus), Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and the University of Louvain. He also worked for the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union and the European Commission and has been the chair the expert group on the online platform economy advising the European Commission.

Kate Jones, CEO, Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (UK)

Kate Jones is the Chief Executive Officer of the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (www.drcf.org.uk).  Kate leads this innovative team, working to increase and deepen coordination between regulators of online services and technology for the benefit of businesses and their customers.

Before joining the DRCF, Kate was an expert consultant and researcher on the governance of emerging technologies, with particular regard to human rights law, public international law and diplomacy. She was an Associate Fellow with the International Law Programme at Chatham House, Senior Associate with Oxford Information Labs, and member of the advisory board of an AI ethics company. She has published and spoken widely on aspects of national and international tech governance.

Kate is currently a trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, reflecting her background as a public international lawyer. Prior to her work on tech governance, she had a varied career as a British diplomat, international and human rights lawyer, Oxford University academic and course director. Kate took her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law at the University of Oxford and qualified as a UK solicitor at Norton Rose. 

Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director-General, DG CNECT, European Commission

Renate Nikolay is Deputy Director-General in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communication Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT). In that role, she oversees the enforcement of the digital rulebook for platforms (Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act), the policies on digital connectivity, data, media and audiovisual as well as international and interinstitutional relations. 

Between 2014 and 2022, she was Head of Cabinet of Vĕra Jourová in her roles as Commissioner for Justice and Consumers and as Vice-President for Values and Transparency.

Prior to that Renate Nikolay was Head of Unit in DG JUST and served as member in the Cabinets of Cathy Ashton and Peter Mandelson.

Renate Nikolay started her career in the European Commission in 2003 in DG Trade after having worked as a diplomat at the German Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels and at the Federal Economics Ministry in Berlin.

Renate Nikolay has a law degree from the Free University of Berlin (Erstes und Zweites Staatsexamen) and a Master of Laws as Fulbright Scholar from Washington, DC. She also participated in an Erasmus exchange with Grenoble/France.   

John Evans, Digital Services Commissioner, Coimisiún na Meán (IE)

John Evans has over 20 years’ experience working in the area of competition, regulation and consumer protection.

John joined Coimisiún na Meán in July 2023 as the Digital Services Commissioner. As Digital Services Commissioner, John has responsibility, among other things, for:

• Leading, in close co-operation with the Online Safety Commissioner, on the enforcement and implementation of the Digital Services Coordinator’s functions within Coimisiún na Meán
• Developing the procedures necessary to implement the Digital Services Act, such as the certification procedures for awarding trusted flagger status and vetting researchers regarding
• Developing effective relationships with Digital Services Coordinators in other Member States
• Ensuring close cooperation with the European Commission in the enforcement and implementation of the regulation of the Digital Services Act for very large online platforms and search engines

Prior to joining An Coimisiún, John was the Director of Strategy and Economics at ComReg, the Irish communications regulator, which he joined in 2015. At ComReg John’s responsibilities included strategic planning, research & economics, international work and emerging issues related to the digital economy.

John also has extensive experience of enforcement. Prior to joining ComReg, John worked in various roles at the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (and previously the Irish Competition Authority), latterly as the Director of Civil Competition Law Enforcement where he worked on a number of high-profile complex investigations.

John holds a PhD in Economics from UCD, Ireland.

Bruno Lasserre, Chair, Commission d’Accès aux Documents Administratifs (FR)

Bruno Lasserre was born on 4 January 1954 in Talence (Gironde). A former student of the National School of Administration (École nationale d’administration), class of “Pierre Mendès France” (1978), he joined the Conseil d’État upon completing his studies, and subsequently the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

He was a member of the Board of the Competition Council from 1998 to 2004, before becoming its President — a position he held for nearly twelve years, successively heading the Council and then the Competition Authority.

In October 2016, Bruno Lasserre returned to the Conseil d’État as President of the Interior Section.

Bruno Lasserre was appointed Vice-President of the Conseil d’État on 16 May 2018.

An Honorary Vice-President of the Conseil d’État since 4 January 2022, Bruno Lasserre was appointed the same year President of the Shareholdings and Transfers Commission, President of the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents, and a member of the Board of the National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties (CNIL). Since June 2025, he has been President of the Foundation for Continental Law.

Clarisse Girot, Head of Division for Data Flows, Governance, Privacy and Online Safety, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

J. Scott Marcus, Associate Senior Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies

Jan Penfrat, Senior Policy Advisor, EDRi

Anu Talus, Chair, European Data Protection Board

Anu Talus has served as the Finnish Information Commissioner since autumn 2020. She is the Head of the Office of the Information Commissioner (TSV) and the Chair of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).

Prior to her work at the IMY, Talus served as Senior Adviser at the Ministry of Justice for over ten years. At the Ministry of Justice she led the implementation of the GDPR in Finland and acted as representative of the Finnish government in the EU GDPR negotiations. Talus has also worked at the European Commission as Seconded National Expert.

Talus holds a Doctor of Laws degree and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Helsinki and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Vaasa.

Robert Mourik, Vice-Chair, BEREC

Robert Mourik joined the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) as Commissioner in 2019 and is currently serving his second five-year term.

Robert has almost thirty years’ experience in the telecoms sector, as an industry executive and as Government official.

Prior to joining ComReg, he worked for Cubic Telecom, a new entrant in the automotive IoT space, where he was responsible for all wholesale activities. Robert spent almost 10 years in Telefonica as the European Regulatory Strategy Director at their corporate HQ in Madrid and as Strategy Director in Ireland.

He also worked for Vodafone Group, as its head of the Brussels Office and in the regulatory department in Newbury, UK.

In 1991, Robert began his career in the Dutch Department for Transport and Telecommunication and from 1994 until 1999 he served, as Telecom Attaché at the Netherlands’ Permanent Representation in Brussels. He was a Member and Chair of the Council Telecoms Working Group in 1998 when the first telecom regulatory package was adopted.

Robert was born in the Netherlands and studied Economics and Public Policy at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and the University of Hull (UK).

Martijn Snoep, Chairman, Autoriteit Consument & Markt (NL)

Orla Lynskey, University College London

Michael König, Head of Unit, DG COMP, European Commission

Mr. Michael KÖNIG is Head of Unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition leading one of the units responsible for the implementation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Before taking up this position in DG COMP, Mr König was advisor for platform regulation in DG CNECT and front line negotiator for the Digital Markets Act in the legislative process. He also served several years as Deputy Head of Unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) where he was primarily responsible for B2B relations regarding online platforms and negotiated the Regulation on fairness in platform-to-business relations (P2B Regulation).

Mr König joined the European Commission in 2001 in the Directorate-General for Competition. His assignments included a position as advisor to Directorate-General's top management and a secondment to the OECD, before he joined the Internal Market Directorate-General in 2008. There he held positions in various policy areas including intellectual property and financial services.

Before joining the Commission, Mr. König worked for several years in the German Competition Authority and an international law firm.

Mr. König graduated in Law and Economics, and holds a PhD degree in Competition Law.

Kai Zenner, Head of Office and Digital Policy Adviser for MEP Axel Voss

Agustín Reyna, Director General, BEUC

Gary Davis, Senior Director Regulatory Legal, Apple

Gary Davis joined Apple in February 2013 where as part of the global team he helped lead Apple's world-wide approach to privacy, across all products and services. He was also responsible for all aspects of Apple’s response to the GDPR. Since July 2024, he has taken on responsibility in the Europe, Middle East and India region for leading regulatory legal matters. In this capacity, Gary is overseeing Apple’s implementation of various digital regulations in Europe.

Previously he served as Ireland's Deputy Data Protection Commissioner for seven years and as a civil servant worked in the Irish Prime Minister's Office for ten years.  

Brendan van Alsenoy, Acting Head of Unit, Policy & Legislative Consultation Unit, European Data Protection Supervisor

Dr. Brendan Van Alsenoy is Acting Head of Unit "Policy & Legislative Consultation" at the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). He previously worked as a Legal Advisor and Acting Head of Unit at the Belgian Data Protection Authority.

Prior to that, he worked as a legal researcher at the KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law, with a focus on data protection and privacy, intermediary liability and trust services. In 2012, he worked at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to assist in the revision of the 1980 OECD Privacy Guidelines.