SPRING CONFERENCE 2023

For this reason, together with the Interim Steering Group of the Conference, we selected three topics for the closed session and one topic for the open day that we believe are of high interest to all the participants:

1. New Technologies – assessment of the social impacts of the use of new technologies in different domains

Mankind is constantly experimenting with new technology. Our curiosity drives us to keep developing and try out new technologies, with the desire to gain certain advantages therewith. These advantages may be social, economic, military or similar, however one thing is always common: the driving force to develop something new.

As mentioned by the preambles of the GDPR technology allows both private companies and public authorities to make use of personal data on an unprecedented scale in order to pursue their activities. Natural persons increasingly make personal information available publicly and globally. Technology has transformed both the economy and social life, and should further facilitate the free flow of personal data.

However, the pace of technological change is so rapid that there is no time to for mankind to discuss, reflect or assess the impact of new technology on everyday life.

In this conference, we wish to have a look into these impacts, with a particular focus on the impacts technology has on us, on our thinking, on our human relationships, on our language and on the way society works.

 2. Competition Law

In this day and age, the processing of personal data can provide a big competitive advantage for companies and people. In recent decades the processing and use of personal data has grown to such an extent that it has a significant economic impact, with huge profits to be made.

Obtaining personal data, which is constantly being generated by data subjects, is used as a tool to build monopolies. The question arises as to whether access to this data is gained under fair conditions and whether there is still a chance for fair competition.

The supervisory authorities enforcing privacy and competition law must act in a united manner to achieve fairness both in the competition and the processing of personal data.

For this reason, this panel aims to explore the interlinkages between competition law and data protection, trying to identify how these two areas of law can support each other and ultimately benefit the welfare of society.

 
3. Court Decisions

In midst of our daily tasks and other priorities, keeping our knowledge in our professional lives up to date is a constant challenge that every data protection expert faces.

One area in particular where it is very hard to keep the pace with is the case law of the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights.

Nonetheless, being well informed in these developments makes all the difference between being good or excellent in what we do.

Therefore, we intend to dedicate a Panel discussion to give the audience an update of the most important cases of Strasbourg and Luxembourg.

4. Best Practices / Case Studies in Enforcement Cooperation between EEA and non-EEA countries

The goal is to share experience gained in enforcement cooperation between countries outside the GDPR cooperation. Speakers are invited to share lessons learned from their experiences.

5. Open Day - Data Protection Officers

Data protection officers have one of the most important roles in developing privacy-conscious environments within their organizations. The knowledge, attitude, competence of the respective DPO can make or break the data protection standard of a given actor.

However DPOs must also cooperate with data protection authorities whilst preforming their duties. Whether DPO and DPAs should be looked upon as friends or foes is a complicated subject that needs further exploring. This way we can find out how can both parties profit from this relationship. Speaking of it: a possibility for benefiting both parties may be the training of the DPOs. If these positions are filled by highly qualified professionals, then compliance with data protection rules will be higher, hence benefiting DPAs and ultimately the society more.

Good practices in the training of DPOs can already be found probably in all of our countries, which are worth sharing with each other.

Sharing know-how and best practices is often the best way to improve and stay up to date in professional life. In this Panel we also wish to explore the importance of well-developed DPO networks for keeping information, knowledge, know-how and best practices up to date.

We similarly wish to explore the DPO’s role within an organization to understand how they can assist, inform, advise their entities better to achieve enhanced compliance.

We look forward to welcome you in Hungary in May!

President of the Hungarian National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information
Attila Péterfalvi