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