How can Artificial Intelligence protect consumers?

Didier Reynders is European Commissioner for justice responsible for rule of law, data protection and other fundamental rights, as well as consumer protection, a position he has held since December 2019. Commissioner Reynders is also supporting the coordination of the Commission’s efforts in respect to the war in Ukraine, more specifically on accountability and enforcement of EU restrictive measures.

Previously, he held several high-level political positions in Belgium including minister of defense, minister of foreign affairs, foreign trade and European affairs, minister of finance and deputy prime minister. From 2004 to 2011, he served as chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur (liberal party alliance). He was elected member of the Belgian Parliament in 1992. Prior to this, he was president of the National Railway Company of Belgium and the National Society of Airways. Reynders has been a guest lecturer at the universities of Liège, Brussels and Louvain until he became European Commissioner. He holds a degree in law from the University of Liège.

Bruno Liebhaberg is Executive Chairman of the think tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) which he founded in 2010.

From 2018 to 2021, he was also the first Chairman of the European Union Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. He is also an Honorary Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles’ Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM ULB) where he taught from 1979 to 2018. Earlier in his career, he advised former European Commission President Jacques Delors on industry and R&D matters related to the completion of the EU Single Market.

He holds a Master’s in management sciences from SBS-EM ULB and a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

¹Also representing B.LIEBHABERG S.A., Director General

²Member of the Strategic Committee

Ms. Pachl has worked at BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, since October 1997, first as Legal Advisor, then as Senior Policy Advisor and presently as Deputy Director General.

Ms. Pachl leads BEUC’s work on the Digital Single Market, on consumer rights, redress and enforcement. She is also responsible for horizontal and strategic policy issues and represents BEUC in the European Commission’s REFIT platform and in the stakeholder group of EU’s Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA). She also co-ordinates BEUC’s law enforcement activities.

BEUC represents 43 independent national consumer associations from 31 European countries. The primary task of BEUC is to act as a strong consumer voice in Brussels and to try to ensure that consumer interests are given their proper weight in the development of all Community policies.

Alexandre de Streel is the Academic Director of the digital research programme at the Brussels think-tank Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), professor of European law at the University of Namur and visiting professor at the College of Europe (Bruges) and SciencesPo Paris. He sits in the scientific committees of the Knight-Georgetown Institute (US), the European University Institute-Centre for a Digital Society (Italy) and the Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation (Germany).

His main research areas are regulation and competition policy in the digital economy (telecommunications, platforms and data) as well as the legal issues raised by the developments of artificial intelligence. He regularly advises the European Union and international organisations on digital regulation.

Previously, Alexandre held visiting positions at New York University Law School, the European University Institute in Florence, Panthéon-Assas (Singapore campus), Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and the University of Louvain. He also worked for the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, the Belgian Permanent Representation to the European Union, and the European Commission. He has also been the chair of the expert group on the online platform economy, advising the European Commission.