The DPO Circle Annual Conference will take place on the 13th of December in The International Auditorium at Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 5, 1210 Brussels between 8:30-17:00 CET. The DPO Circle is a Belgian association of Data Protection Officers and also includes professionals who take part in implementing GDPR, Privacy and Data Protection compliance.  Continue reading…

by Costanza Matteuzzi & Aldo Pedico

We have undertaken writing this article to illustrate our idea of coining a new definition of Quality System. Remaining in the corporate organizational context, until today, we have associated the canonical definition of Quality with internal processes up to their certification (for example: ISO 9001). With the technological evolution and the risks that derive from it, on the one hand, and the enactment of recent European laws, on the other, the definition of Quality System requires a revision: conceptual (mentality), methodology (procedures), technology (products) and technical (activities or modes of intervention).

Our revision imposes the adaptation, in whole or in part, of the current way of approaching personal and business information processing systems, achieving an adjustment to current and increasingly complex needs. Here, we wanted to demonstrate our new assertion by illustrating and applying the new concepts. This assertion, as described in the following paragraphs, enriches the Quality System with the Cybersecurity value; this value is assigned a position of absolute and of primary importance, to the point of conferring a new and more adequate axiom: Cybersecurity Quality System.

This article will be published in two parts; the second part will be published next week. 

Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

The Belgian Cyber Security Convention (BCSC) is an event that was held on October 16 to push organizations to seriously invest in protecting their data from exposure to cybersecurity risks and threats. The convention was organized by Brewery of Ideas and took place at the Lamot Congress Center in Mechelen. It aimed to unite some of the best European experts in cybersecurity coming from about 14 different countries. The goal of the convention was to get businesses, public and private organizations to meet these experts, pass on the latest insights and become informed on the most important best practices and technologies.
Continue reading…

The European Commission has today recommended the European Council (Article 50) to endorse the agreement reached at negotiator level on the Withdrawal Agreement, including a revised Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland, and approve a revised Political Declaration on the framework of the future EU-UK relationship. The Commission also recommends that the European Parliament give its consent to this agreement. This follows a series of intensive negotiations between the European Commission and UK negotiators over the past few days. Continue reading…

The European Commission is taking stock of its overall approach to equivalence in the area of financial services. EU equivalence has become a significant tool in recent years, fostering the integration of global financial markets and cooperation with third-country authorities. The EU assesses the overall policy context and to what extent the regulatory regimes of a given third country achieves the same outcomes as its own rules. A positive equivalence decision, which is a unilateral measure by the Commission, allows EU authorities to rely on third-country rules and supervision, allowing market participants from third countries who are active in the EU to comply with only one set of rules. Past Communication also sets out how recent updates to EU legislation will ensure even greater effectiveness of the EU single rulebook, supervision and monitoring, while also fostering cross-border business in global markets. The Commission has, to date, taken over 280 equivalence decisions with regard to over 30 countries.
Continue reading…

The European Union will ensure a greater level of protection to whistleblowers that operate in a range of various sectors, namely money laundering, transport safety, financial services, pubic procurement, nuclear safety and consumer and data protection. The legislation is going to be formally signed and published in the Official journal, of which the member states will have two years to incorporate the new rules into their national laws. On October 7, the European Council of Ministers formally adopted the Whistleblowing Directive that was passed by the European Union Parliament in April of this year. The Council recently formally adopted the new rules to the protection of whistleblowers. Continue reading…

by Bob Goulooze

In order to create economies of scale, national airline companies are looking for partners, preferably equal ones, but certainly ones that may complement the current services of the flag carrier. In 2004, Air France (AF) merged with KLM and troubles have arisen since then. AF is the biggest partner in the joint venture with KLM and claimed the lead from day one. Those who are familiar with the way the French work couldn’t believe in the first place that this would be a match made in heaven. The French have the patronage system, which is a social unequal relationship between a powerful and less powerful partner. The powerful ‘patron’ renders favors to the subservient one in return for services, adherence, and homage. You don’t have to be culturally savvy to understand that such a patronage relationship is so un-Dutch, at least being at the receiving end. The Dutch have a more equal culture in which reaching consensus is the bottom line.
Continue reading…

The Sibos 2019 London event took place at ExCeL London from September 23rd to the 26th and held more than 11,000 delegates, 600 speakers and 300 exhibitioners. Sibos was hosted for the very first time in London, with the city being renowned for its close association to finance, innovation and technology. Continue reading…

by Elina Karpacheva

The Bulgarian FinTech community met to discuss compliance and financial crime for the first time in Sofia. The Spotlight event, organized by Eleven Ventures and the European Compliance Center was truly a success – an evening full of valuable insights and discussions between entrepreneurs and AML/financial crime specialists. The event showed that the thriving innovative ecosystem seriously takes into account the AML/financial crime risks and is committed to building effective internal systems for detection, prevention and response. The event coincided with the launch of the First Bulgarian FinTech report. Bulgaria is the fastest growing Fintech destination in the CEE region according to the newest CEE Fintech Atlas by the Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI).
Continue reading…

by Giacomo Luca Aleo

On June 18, 2019 Facebook announced the birth of its own cryptocurrency: Libra, whose name is inspired by Roman unit of measurement, deriving from balance Latin name; the debut is expected for the first half of 2020. The announcement caused, on one hand, a general uproar and, on the other, the value increase of the other cryptocurrencies. The “Libra Association” (no-profit organization) will manage Libra. It currently counts 28 heterogeneous founding partners (with the goal of reaching 100), representing business giants: from Mastercard and Visa to operators of payment system (PayPal, PayU, Stripe), from telecommunications operators (Vodafone and Iliad) to consumer companies (including Booking, eBay, Spotify, Uber), from venture capital such as Andreessen Horowitz to a global exchange Coinbase. Managing Libra actually means manage the Libra Blockchain: it is a permissioned ledgers model, i.e. the management and the validation of transactions is prerogative of a single node, which – in this case – is collective and represented by the Libra Association. The blockchain will record the entire history of the transactions by replicating them in the node; therefore, the transactions will be transparent to all participants of the Libra Association.
Continue reading…