https://eulawlive.com/call-for-contributions-symposium-competition-enforcement-powers-and-privacy/
EU Law Live’s Competition Corner is organising a symposium on the intersection between competition enforcement powers and privacy. Investigatory powers conceived for filing cabinets are now exercised over mailboxes, laptops and phones, and what they capture is personal as much as professional. Where the line between the two regimes falls has become one of the liveliest debates in EU competition procedure, and the courts are drawing it case by case.
On 16 July 2026, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice handed down its much-awaited ruling in Imagens Médicas Integradas (C-258/23, C-259/23 and C-260/23). The Court held that Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter do not preclude a national competition authority from seizing professional emails containing personal data during an inspection of business premises without prior judicial authorisation, provided its powers are strictly framed by law and accompanied by full and effective ex post judicial review. In the same breath, the Court signalled that access to devices belonging personally to directors or employees calls for prior review by a court or an independent body.
The EU Courts and the EFTA Court have handed down other significant rulings on the same intersection recently: see e.g. Michelin v Commission (T-188/24); Red Bull and Others v Commission (T-306/23); Nuctech (Orders in T-284/24 R and C-720/24 P(R)); Toska ehf. and Lyf og heilsa hf. v ESA and SKEL fjárfestingafélag hf. v ESA (Joined Cases E-31/24 and E-32/24); Broadcom (T-280/26 R); Vivendi (T-1097/23) and Lagardère (T-1119/23). Further cases are pending: see e.g. Ronos (C-619/23); Red Bull and Others v Commission (C-865/25 P); Nuctech (T-284/24); and Meta Platforms v Commission (C-496/23 P and C-497/23 P); among others.
Against this background, they are looking for short, sharp and opinionated pieces. The themes we have in mind include:
- the balance between effective competition enforcement and the protection of the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection;
- the treatment of devices used for both personal and business purposes, including whether device ownership remains an appropriate proxy to determine the level of protection;
- the handling of privacy and data protection of information held in digital ecosystems;
the scope and proportionality of requests for information and inspection decisions;
the adequacy of ex ante judicial authorisation, ex post judicial review and other safeguards; - the balance between the effectiveness of EU/EEA law and higher national constitutional or procedural standards, and constitutional identity;
legal professional privilege; - extraterritorial reach of EU/EEA investigations where compliance would breach foreign data protection or secrecy rules;
- the EEA dimension and homogeneity between the EU and EFTA systems; and
what all of this implies for the announced revision of Regulation 1/2003.
The list is indicative rather than exhaustive. They equally welcome contributions from other areas of EU law that shed light on these questions, whether from the DSA and DMA, financial regulation, data protection law or the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. They are also happy to publish more than one piece on the same question where the perspectives differ.
EU Law Live’s full author guidelines and terms are sent on acceptance, and a summary is available under ‘Publish with us’ at eulawlive.com.
Publication
The symposium opens in early November 2026 and pieces appear on a rolling basis, so there is some flexibility on the date for final texts. Once the symposium closes, the contributions are compiled into a booklet, as with their earlier Competition Corner symposia, which can be found here.
Key dates
Deadline for proposals Tuesday 15 September 2026
Notification of selection Monday 21 September 2026
Deadline for final texts Wednesday 21 October 2026
Symposium opens Early November 2026 (rolling publication)
For more detailed information, please visit their call for papers here: https://eulawlive.com/call-for-contributions-symposium-competition-enforcement-powers-and-privacy/