On the 18th of October 2018, the international conference entitled “Life after the GDPR: Good Data Protection Rules and Prospects for the Future” was organized by the International and Regional Studies Institute of our Faculty, in cooperation with Europe Direct and with the financial support of the Ministry of Justice.

The conference took place – in style – in Szeged Agora Informatorium with almost 130 guests from public institutions, academia, private sector, and Non-Governmental Organizations. The event’s welcome speech was given by Mr. Giovanni Buttarelli, European Data Protection Supervisor via a video message. Speakers included European Data Protection Supervisor, Giovanni Buttarelli (via a video message), Prof. Dr. László Trócsányi and Gizem Gültekin-Várkonyi from our Faculty, as well as invited speakers from the Polish and Hungarian Supervisory Authorities, Urszula Góral and Endre Győző Szabó, talking about country-specific challenges in GDPR-compliance before and after the entry into force of the Regulation.

Further invited speakers were Dr. Péter László Salgó, Deputy State Secretary for Public Law of Hungarian Ministry of Justice, addressing issues of the Hungarian codification in compliance with the GDPR, as well as Dr. András Tóth, Associate Professor of Károli Gáspár Reformed University and Dr. László Gergely Szőke, Assistant Professor of University of Pécs, who presented academic points of view on the interconnectedness of law and technology and the SWOT analysis of the GDPR.

In the afternoon, the preparedness of the service sector was discussed by several representatives from Hungary’s distinguished sector leaders (such as National Instruments, Magyar Telekom, MOL, Invitech, Baker and McKenzie, Ernst and Young) sharing their experiences on the implementation of the GDPR. The panellists also engaged the audience to ask about the daily issues regarding the practical application of the GDPR.

Gizem Gültekin-Várkonyi