EVENT

23 October  2018

 ICDPPC 2018 Side Event

The future for collective action under the GDPR

in association with Privacy Laws  and Business

The private right of redress by way of collective action (Art.80) is a little discussed right in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) but has the potential to transform the balance of power between companies and consumers. Individuals, such as consumers and members of labour unions can now get together as a group to take legal action to assert their data protection rights and seek redress by way of resolving problems or claiming compensation. This private right of action can be used when the same issue affects many people, where legal action by a few people would be prohibitively expensive. Collective funding has already been used by Max Schrems to finance his case up to the Court of Justice of the European Union which sunk the EU-US Safe Harbor.

Drawing on limited experience of collective action in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, this half day workshop will explore the potential for collective action under the GDPR and assess how this new European Economic Area right will differ from well-established class action cases in the United States. The workshop will address issues, such as:

1.1. Will there be a need for individual opt-in to a case? How would the public be made aware of relevant claims?

1.2. How will NGOs show a court that they have a mandate to act in a specific case?

1.3. How would a supervisory authority or a court deal with an organisation or association which abuses the right to lodge  a complaint “independently of a data subject’s mandate” (Art 80.2)?

1.4. How should compensation for material and immaterial harms be quantified?

1.5. How will these cases be managed in the context of cross-border complaints?

1.6. To what extent will there be scope for no win, no fee legal advice?

1.7. How will these cases be pursued in the European Economic Area countries where collective action has not previously been a feature of the legal landscape?

Confirmed speakers include :

Professor Gloria González Fuster, Brussels Privacy Hub, Belgium (Moderator)

Stewart Dresner, Chief Executive, Privacy Laws & Business, UK (Moderator)

Isabelle Buscke, Head of Brussels Office,   Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e.V.   (Federation of German Consumer Organisations)

Dr. Orla Lynskey, Assistant Professor of Law, London School of Economics, UK

David Martin Ruiz, Senior Legal Officer, BEUC - The European Consumer Organisation, Belgium

Dr. Boris Uphoff, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, Germany

Wojciech Wiewiórowski, Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor, Brussels

Ashley Winton, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, UK

Time: 14:30 - 17:30 (refreshments included)

Programme: A full programme is now available.

Venue: The Hotel, Boulevard de Waterloo 38, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium

Registration:  The event is now full.