A Child-Centred Approach to the EU Digital Rulebook

  • Panel
  • Orangerie
  • Thursday 21.05 — 08:45 - 10:00

Organising Institution

KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP)

Belgium

The Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP) is a research center at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at KU Leuven, with currently a staff of over 85 researchers specialized in legal aspects of IT innovation and intellectual property. Researchers working at CiTiP focus on the fundamental re-thinking of the current legal framework, necessitated by the rapid evolution of technology in various fields, such as government, media, health care, informatics, digital economy, transport, culture, etc. Their research constantly aspires cross-fertilization between legal, technical, economic, and socio-cultural perspectives. CiTiP has a solid track record as a law and ethics partner of large international and interdisciplinary research projects. It is internationally renowned for its expertise in the areas of Artificial Intelligence & Autonomous systems, Data Protection & Privacy, eHealth & Pharma, Ethics & Law, Intellectual Property, Media & Telecommunications and (Cyber)security.
  • Academic 3
  • Business 1
  • Policy 2
The European Union’s Digital Rulebook has undergone significant transformation with the introduction of several new chapters in the past decade (such as the DSA, DMA, or AI Act), while proposals to review its very foundation have been recently introduced, such as the Omnibus package. These fast-paced changes create the need to understand how these frameworks interact and whether they complement or contradict each other. The stakes are even higher when the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly children, are affected. A holistic approach is therefore required to ensure a coherent reading, addressing possible tensions in line with the best interests of the child. This panel explores key areas of interplay across regulatory regimes through the lens of children’s rights, highlighting opportunities and identifying gaps. Discussions will span from age-assurance mechanisms to profiling, social-media bans and children’s mental health.

Questions to be answered

  1. What role do children’s rights play in the EU Digital Rulebook when balancing competing interests?
  2. What does a rights-respecting approach to age-assurance mechanisms look like in practice?
  3. Do proposals to ban children’s access to social media represent an effective response to the challenges they pose?
  4. What are the risks and opportunities of profiling children in digital environments?

Moderator

Andrea Palumbo

KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP) - Belgium

Andrea Palumbo is a doctoral researcher in law and technology at the Centre for IT and IP Law (CiTiP), Faculty of Law, KU Leuven, and IMEC. His doctoral research focuses on risk-based regulation under the EU AI Act and the DSA, and in particular on the constitutional challenges posed by reliance on risk management as a regulatory tool.

Speaker

Elora Fernandes

KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP) - Belgium

Elora Fernandes is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the KU Leuven Centre for IT and IP Law (CiTiP – Belgium), where she works on the ORCHID project. The project aims to analyze the interplay between the GDPR and other legislation within the EU Digital Rulebook through the lens of children's rights. Previously, she worked in NGOs focused on digital rights in different countries and served as a Trainee and Interim Legal Officer at the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS).

Speaker

Simone van der Hof

Leiden University - Netherlands

Simone van der Hof is a full professor of Law Digital Technologies at the Center for Law and Digital Technologies (eLaw) at Leiden Law School. She was the initiator and, until September 2023, programme director of the Master of Laws Advanced Studies programme in Law and Digital Technologies. She is a coordinator and lecturer for several master's-level courses on children’s rights and digital technologies. Her particular academic interest is in the field of child rights and digital technologies (children’s rights to privacy and data protection, protection against online sexual and commercial exploitation of children and the children’s right to play in the digital environment). Over the years, she has participated in numerous national and European research projects, including more recently the euConsent project on the development of electronic identification and trust services for children in Europe in which she researched parental consent and age verification mechanism in the context of data protection law and a project on age assurance as part of the Better Internet for Kids (BIK+) strategy. She has developed the Dutch Code voor Kinderrechten (Children’s rights code) with the Waag Society and a model Children’s Rights Impact Assessment with Considerati. She was involved in research into behavioural design in video games and in classifying such design with the Dutch Trimbos Institute and the Technical University of Eindhoven. Simone holds various ancillary positions related to children’s rights and the protection of minors.

Speaker

Greta Faieta

European Commission - Europe

Greta Faieta is a Case Handler at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT), where she works on the enforcement of the Digital Services Act (DSA). She contributes to investigations and regulatory actions concerning the protection of minors online, bringing specialized expertise in children’s rights to the implementation of the DSA framework. Prior to joining the DSA enforcement team, Greta worked on the implementation of the Better Internet for Kids+ (BIK+) Strategy, with a particular focus on age-assurance measures and systemic safeguards to enhance child protection in digital environments. Her professional experience spans child sexual abuse and exploitation, children’s rights in the digital sphere, and children’s rights in migration contexts. She has worked with international public institutions and civil society organisations, including UNICEF Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council of Europe, ECPAT International, and the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC).

Speaker

Nicoleta Prutean

Centre for Future Generations - International

Nicoleta Prutean is Senior Governance Analyst at the Centre for Future Generations, leading the "Tech and the Brain" workstream. She develops tech policy approaches that safeguard cognitive integrity and human agency, drawing on her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Ghent University and research across Europe and the US in human decision-making, cognitive biases, and motivation.