The European digital landscape reflects a strong commitment to regulation and oversight. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), the Digital Services Act (DSA), the AI Act and the Data Act all now stand as important pillars of the EU’s digital rulebook. They each rely on the foundation provided by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the interplay between these laws presents both challenges and opportunities.
At a time where regulatory simplification is at the centre of policy debates in Brussels and beyond, it is more important than ever to ensure that EU laws remain coherent with one another. It is also essential to ensure that these laws are interpreted and applied in a consistent manner.
With this in mind, the EDPS recently convened a gathering of regulators, policymakers, academics and other stakeholders for an event entitled ‘Towards a Digital Clearinghouse 2.0’. Our goal was simple yet ambitious: to gather lessons from existing models for cross-regulatory cooperation and discuss what the future of cross-regulatory cooperation should look like. In short: to map a pathway from complexity to coherence.
The ‘without prejudice’ reality
We often note that new digital acts are “without prejudice” to the GDPR. However, this does not mean that the GDPR remains entirely unaffected in practice.
For example, there is an inherent tension between the Data Act’s mission to ‘unlock’ data value and the GDPR’s mandate to protect personal data. Similarly, the DMA’s push for contestability of digital markets often requires the sharing of personal data protected by the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive.
The risk is clear: inconsistent application of these rules undermines legal certainty, which in turn harms public trust in the regulation of the digital economy. Different regulators with different mandates must work together to understand how to apply these new rules in a consistent and coherent manner, without undermining one another’s efforts.
Where we are today
The good news is that there is much we can do already and there is much already being done. The event highlighted that several Member States and neighbours have been pioneering their own clearinghouse prototypes.
For example, in the Netherlands, regulators participating in the SDT (Dutch platform for cross-regulatory cooperation) have begun to utilise an ‘early warning system’ to alert each other when a new investigation begins. They also organise joint meetings with companies, ensuring that businesses receive a holistic view of compliance expectations rather than a series of contradictory orders.
The UK’s Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum provides another example through their secondment programme, whereby participating regulators commit staff permanently to the work of the body tasked with coordinating national digital regulation. This allows staff between diverse authorities to build shared technical understanding of emerging challenges such as quantum computing, digital identity or agentic AI.
At EU level, we have the High-Level Group of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is perhaps the closest we have gotten to a digital clearinghouse at EU level, although it remains centred on the implementation of the DMA. We also have important initiatives for joint guidance among the Commission and the European Data Protection Board, which clearly demonstrate both the need and added value of closer cooperation.
The road to travel
Diversity is good and so is experimentation. But it is high time we build on the lessons learned and address the practical challenges that remain. The event highlighted that the lines of how deep cooperation can go are often blurry and that more legal certainty would be welcome, for example, to enable the exchange of information without compromising procedural integrity.
As we look toward to the results of the Commission’s Digital Fitness Check, the case for a Digital Clearinghouse 2.0 is clear: to ensure that the EU’s many ‘sheriffs’ are not just patrolling the same territory but are reading from the same map.
The EDPS remains committed to ensuring that the EU’s pursuit of digital competitiveness remains anchored to the protection of fundamental rights. I am encouraged by the willingness of our fellow regulators and other stakeholders to find a way forward. Where there is a will, there is indeed a way.
‘Towards a Digital Clearinghouse 2.0’ took place on 27 January 2026 in Brussels. To find the event programme and re-watch any of the discussions, click here.