Symposium 'Data protection as the law of everything(?)'

'The law of everything'

The broad definition of what constitutes a processing of personal data combined with limited exceptions to the application of data protection law strengthen the idea that data protection has become 'the law of everything'. Is such a designation an exaggeration, a welcome development, or does it pose a problem? Should we perhaps return to a more focused approach of data protection or is it finally securing its rightful place?

Symposium 'Data protection as the law of everything (?)'

What does a broad application of data protection rules mean for other areas of the law which govern similar legal relationships or topics, such as anti-discrimination law, competition law and consumer law? What can we learn if we look at data protection in context with these adjacent areas of the law, and what (central) role does the fairness principle play in this regard? On Thursday 22 and Friday 23 September 2022, the Open Universiteit presents the symposium 'Data protection as the law of everything (?)' at the Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen. Following the symposium, the inaugural lecture of prof. Anna Berlee, Professor of Data Protection and Privacy Law, will take place on Thursday 22 September 2022.

Speakers Thursday 22 September

• Aleid Wolfsen, chair of the Netherlands Authority for the Protection of Personal Data, will open the symposium in terms of content. In his lecture, he will address the question of whether the increasing digitalization and the independent recognition of the fundamental right to data protection in the EU Charter has made the regulator essentially a regulator of all fundamental rights exercised in the digital domain.

Panel discussion with, among others:

• Foreign A-G at the Court of Justice and Counselor at the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic Michal Bobek;
• Professor of Law and the Information Society at Leiden University and attorney-at-law partner at Pels Rijcken Gerrit-Jan Zwenne;
• Professor of Law, Innovation and Technology at Utrecht University Nadya Purtova;
• Professor of ICT and private law at the Radboud University Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius;
• Professor Quirine Eijkman, Vice-Chair and member of the College for Human Rights and Professor of Access to Justice at the Research centre for Social Innovation at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht;
• Attorney-owner Hunter Legal, chairperson of the Take Back Your Privacy Foundation and lecturer at the Open University Friederike van der Jagt.

The day will be concluded with the inaugural lecture of Professor of Data Protection and Privacy Law Anna Berlee.

Speakers Friday 23 September

• Lecture by Simone Huting, researcher in data protection and privacy law at the Open Universiteit, who will explain her PhD research on the principle of propriety in data protection law;
• The principle of propriety will also be discussed in the presentation by associate professor of competition law at Tilburg University Inge Graef;
• Professor of Access to Justice at the Research centre for Social Innovation at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht and vice-chair and member of College for Human Rights Quirine Eijkman;
• University Senior Lecturer in Civil Law at Radboud University Pieter Wolters on data protection law in the context of contract and consumer law.

The day will end with a discussion with the audience.