Each year, the Government Affairs and Professional Standards service of ESOMAR organises a delegation visit to Brussels in order to meet the movers and shakers of what’s known in Brussels as the “European bubble.” That “bubble” is composed of stakeholder organisations and counterparts, European enforcement and regulatory authorities, and lawmakers is one of the most diverse and influential in the world second perhaps only to Washington DC. It is therefore key for ESOMAR, the global voice of the data, research and insights community to be present on a continuous basis and to continually connect, refresh and deepen our relationships with the various people that make up that “bubble.”
Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting our new Legal Affairs Committee and Professional Standards Committee members in Brussels for our regular meetings of both committees but also in order to participate in the next delegation visit. Our objectives are always to raise awareness of the operational challenges and opportunities we see for our sector with regards to the European market, but also to establish ourselves as interlocutors who are innovating in the field of self-regulation, are committed to responsible data collection and use in the sector, and keen to have an open dialogue.
With the European institutions still in the process of being reshaped following the last European elections, and many key individuals not being allocated or confirmed in their posts just yet, our usual meetings with the cabinets of European Commissioners (Europe’s equivalent to national ministers) and Members of European Parliament will take place next year, to further build on the achievements of this year’s delegation visit.
This delegation visit was therefore an opportunity to focus in on the broader stakeholder community with meetings held with the European Broadcasters Union (representing public broadcasters) and discussing the progress of our joint Coalition for Audience Measurement. EBU and ESOMAR (together with many national MR associations and EFAMRO) are currently actively lobbying to enable passive audience measurement conducted in Europe and safeguarding against restrictions foreseen for telemarketing to ensure they do not inhibit online telephone research. The dossier threatens to heat up at any moment and we need to stay vigilant and prepared to guide lawmakers depending on their new proposals.
We also met with stakeholders from the academic research community (The Guild). This gave us the opportunity to exchange and address issues both communities are facing, such a decreasing trust in research, whether academic or applied research should be brought closer together in the upcoming legislative cycle and how to ensure the citizen’s voice is heard and accounted for in the work we are conducting.
Other meetings focussed on the advertising community (the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation and IAB Europe) in order to understand better the future of advertising self-regulation and also the plans of IAB Europe concerning their Transparency and Consent Framework and the implications either may have on market research self-regulation and our efforts to distinguish clearly research from purely marketing activities. These meetings offer an opportunity to remind the importance of doing so from the perspective of future advocacy efforts spearheaded by the service on behalf of ESOMAR members.
Our meetings however were not exclusively targeting just our counterparts in other sectors, we also held an introductory meeting with a number of institutional actors including the newly appointed Belgian Data Protection Authority chairman and members of the staff working for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and Artificial Intelligence units. These offer an opportunity for us to update them on our efforts to promote professional standards, modernise self-regulation and to discuss the increasing challenges ESOMAR members face in maintaining access to data that is so crucial for the making and delivery of contextualised consumer-driven insights. We are hopeful that these meetings will elevate ESOMAR’s standing with individuals who will be shaping Europe’s future AI strategy and ambitions, the post-GDPR data protection and privacy framework, and research and innovation strategy.
These meetings form an essential part of the government affairs and professional standards service we offer members. The more we continue making the trouble to visit Brussels, the more opportunities to discuss, raise awareness and influence as may need to be the case are created enabling us to convey your thoughts and fears to the European bubble and for us to provide better, up to date guidance on the expectations coming from this power centre to the entire sector. One thing is already certain, 2020 will be just as action packed as 2019 once a new Commission takes it seat and looks to make its mark on history alongside an equally new European Parliament.
Advocacy is in this regard a continuously moving game of chess, it’s important not to miss a moving piece at the risk of being checked!