Programme

9.30 | 10.30 Registration and Welcome coffee

10.30 | 10.40 Welcome address

  • Luca Jahier, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

Kick-off:

  • Sean Klein, Journalist & Broadcaster, moderator

10.40 | 11.50 Modernization of EU Consumer Rights and Enforcement - Adapting to Digitalization

► What are the views of the co-legislators?

  • Ivana Soić, Assistant Minister, Croatian Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts
  • Pascal Arimont, Member of the European Parliament, IMCO Committee Shadow Rapporteurs on the "Omnibus" Directive

► Panel Discussion with brief interventions

  • Giovanni Calabrò, Director General DG Consumer Protection, Italian Competition Authority (AGCM)
  • Bob Boelema, Coordinating Inspector in the International Affairs Consumer Division Representative, Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM)
  • Isabelle Buscke, Team Leader Brussels, Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv)
  • Els Bruggemann, Domain Head Advocacy & Enforcement, Belgian Consumer Organisation “Test-Achats/Test-Aankoop”
  • Marie Even, General Secretary of Cdiscount
  • Antonio Longo, Italian Member of the Diversity Europe Group, EESC

► Questions and answers

► Interaction with all participants

► Conclusions: Marie-Paule Benassi, Acting Director, DG Justice and Consumers

11.50 | 13.00 Improving Consumer Redress - Individually and Collectively

► What are the views of the co-legislators?

  • Gerd Billen, State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumers
  • Geoffroy Didier, Member of the European Parliament, JURI Committee Rapporteur on the Representative Actions Directive

► Panel Discussion with brief interventions

  • Dorota Karczewska, Vice-President, Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK)
  • Baiba Vītoliņa, Director, Latvian Consumer Rights Protection Centre (PTAC/CRPC)
  • Petra Leupold, Head of the VKI Academy, Austrian Consumer Information Association (VKI)
  • Bob Schmitz, EU Legal Counsel, Luxembourgish Union of Consumers (ULC)
  • Ian Talbot, Chief Executive, Chief Executive, Chambers Ireland
  • Colin Lustenhouwer, Dutch Member of the Employers' Group, EESC

► Questions and answers

► Interaction with all participants

► Conclusions: Blanca Rodriguez Galindo, Head of Unit “Consumer and Marketing Law”, DG Justice and Consumers

13.00 | 14.30 Lunch

14.30 | 14.45 Keynote speech

  • Vera Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality

14:45 | 15:00 Trio Presidency interventions

  • Emil Alexiev, Bulgarian Presidency Chair of the Consumer Working Party and Head of the Consumer Policy Unit in the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy
  • Katja Schager, Attaché for Competitiveness (New Deal for Consumers) at the Austrian Permanent Representation to the EU and Co-Chair of the Council Working Party for the Omnibus Directive
  • Marius Pirvu, President of the Romanian National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC)

15:00 | 16:50 Future priorities for European Consumer protection - Challenges ahead

Brief 2-minutes interventions from different perspective

► What are the views of the co-legislators?

  • Virginie Beaumeunier, Director General, DG CCRF, French Ministry of Economy
  • Mady Delvaux, Member of the European Parliament

► National Authorities’ Policy and Enforcement Perspective

  • Ana Catarina Fonseca, Director-General, DG Consumers, Portuguese Ministry of Economy
  • Fergal O’Leary, Member, Irish Competition and Consumer Commission (CCPC)
  • Susanne Aamann, Deputy Head of Unit, Danish Competition and Consumer Authority (DCCA)
  • Una Shortall, Deputy Secretary General, Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER)

► Civil Society Perspective

  • Luis Silveira Rodrigues, Vice-President, Portuguese Consumer Organisation “Defensa do Consumidor” (DECO)
  • Jens Henriksson, International Affairs, The Swedish Consumers’ Association
  • Baiba Miltoviča, International and EU Affairs Adviser of the Latvian National Association for Consumer Protection (LPIAA)
  • Roberto Cerminara, Responsible Commerce and Company Legislation Section, Confcommercio
  • Huberta Maitz-Strassnig, Wirtschaftskammer Österreich (WKÖ)
  • Ferre Wyckmans, Belgian Member of the Workers' Group, EESC

► European Perspective

  • Monique Goyens, Director General, BEUC
  • Chiara Giovannini, Senior Manager Policy & Innovation, ANEC
  • Pedro Oliveira, Director of the Legal Affairs Department, BusinessEurope
  • Joanna Lopatowska, Head of Digital and Consumer Policy, EuroCommerce
  • Leon Mölenberg, Senior Policy Advisor, eCommerce Europe
  • Luc Hendrickx, Director Enterprise Policy and External Relations, SMEunited (formerly UEAPME)
  • Triin Saag, Director of government affairs, EMOTA
  • Caroline Walczak, Policy Manger, Digital Europe
  • Erwan Bertrand, Head of Single Market Policy, Eurochambres

Open floor discussion with 28 delegations (including National Authorities, Consumer and Business Organisations, and other Civil Society organisations), including questions and answers

► Conclusions: Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, Acting Deputy Director General, DG Justice and Consumers

16.50 | 17.00 Closing remarks

  • Francisco Fonseca Morillo, Head of the European Commission Representation in Spain
  • Ariane Rodert, President of the Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption, EESC