Programme

Conference - The Spanish Presidency's new challenges for consumption and the environment

9:00 - Registration of participants

10:00 - Opening session by Séamus Boland, President of the Civil Society Organisations' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

The regulation of influencers and consumer protection

Moderator: Bernardo Hernández Bataller, Secretary-General of the Association of Communication Users (AUC), member of the Spanish Council for Consumers and Users (CCU) and rapporteur of the EESC exploratory opinion on Advertising through influencers and its impact on consumers

Advisor: Alejandro Perales Albert, President of the AUC and member of the CCU

Panel members:

• Alejandra de Iturriaga Gandini, Director for Telecommunications and the Audiovisual Sector at the Spanish National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC)
• Jose Domingo Gómez Castallo, Director-General of AUTOCONTROL
• Beatriz Osuna, Director of Communication and Institutional Relations at the Spanish Association of Advertisers (AEA)
• Rafael Escudero Alday, Secretary-General for Consumer Affairs and Gambling at the Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

11:30 - Environmental claims

Moderator: Thierry Libaert, representative of the NGO Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme (Foundation for Nature and Humankind), scientist at the Catholic University of Leuven and rapporteur for the EESC opinion on Empowering the consumer for the green transition

Advisor: Clémentine Baldon, Member of the Paris Bar Association, professor and member of the ESSEC Supervisory Board, associate expert of the NGO Fondation pour la Nature et l’Homme (Foundation for Nature and Humankind) and member of the Committee of Fellow Experts of the Veblen Institute for Economic Reforms

Panel members:

• Bibiana Medialdea García, Director-General for Consumer Affairs at the Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs
• Margarita Ruiz Saiz-Aja, Deputy Director-General for Circular Economy at the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge
• Maria Gemma Teso Alonso, PhD in Sociology, professor at the Faculty of Information Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid
• Carmen Redondo Borge, Director of Institutional Relations at the Spanish Confederation of Consumer and User Cooperatives (HISPACOOP) and member of the CCU.

13:00 - Lunch, courtesy of the Spanish Presidency

14:30 - The Directive on representative actions and its transposition in the different Member States

Moderator: Ileana Izverniceanu de la Iglesia, Director for Communication and Institutional Relations of the Organisation of Consumers and Users (OCU) and member of the UCC

Advisor: Marco Scialdone, professor of Law and Management of Digital Content and Services at the European University of Rome, and member of the High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (Euroconsumers)

Panel members:

• Carlos Ballugera Gómez, President of the CCU
• Eugenio Ribón Seisdedos, Dean of the Madrid Bar Association (ICAM)
• Małgorzata Posnow-Wurm, lawyer in Unit B3 – Consumer Enforcement and Redress at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DJ JUST B3) (via videoconference).

16:00 - Closing remarks

• Carlos Ballugera Gómez, President of the CCU

Interpreting: ES/EN/FR