EDPB high level meeting in Dublin further deepens consistency and enforcement cooperation
Ensuring that the EU General Data Protection Regulation is applied and enforced consistently across the European Union lies at the heart of the European Data Protection Board’s mission. The EDPB therefore continuously reflects on how cooperation between data protection authorities can be further strengthened, where existing mechanisms can be improved and what additional measures are needed to achieve greater consistency and more effective enforcement. Its high-level meetings provide an opportunity to take a longer-term strategic view, assess progress and shape the board’s priorities for the months and years ahead.
Last summer, the EDPB met in Helsinki and adopted its Helsinki statement. The statement outlines initiatives to make GDPR compliance easier, enhance dialogue with external stakeholders, strengthen consistency and boost cross-regulatory cooperation. This year, the EDPB held a high-level meeting in Dublin on 16-17 July, to take stock of the actions taken following Helsinki and to assess what should be done further, in particular to deepen consistency and cooperation with regard to enforcement.
Following the Helsinki meeting in the second half of 2025, the EDPB carried out a major review of its internal processes to put its commitments into practice. This soon produced visible results, including the increased number of events for stakeholders which were organized earlier in the guidance process, so that practical concerns can shape the drafting itself. Following the event, reports on the public consultation are made available on the EDPB website for maximum transparency.
In addition, the EDPB issued new practical tools to support GDPR compliance, such as templates, including the data protection impact assessment template and the data breach notification template. The board also published summaries of its guidance in formats designed for nonexperts, helping smaller organizations understand the main takeaways.
The Dublin meeting focused on two main issues: how to further strengthen GDPR cross-border enforcement and how to ensure efficient cross-regulatory cooperation.
As regards cross-border enforcement of the GDPR, the board recalled the significant progress made, as recognized in the second report of the European Commission on the application of the GDPR. At the same time, DPAs are facing a considerable increase in the number and complexity of complaints. The use of artificial intelligence is a contributing factor to this trend and puts additional pressure on the already strained resources of DPAs.
The board discussed practical ways to deepen cooperation between DPAs and pool resources, including through greater use of joint operations, which can help authorities carry out enforcement actions more efficiently. It also considered the possibility for complaint-receiving authorities to make resources available to lead supervisory authorities. In addition, DPAs will organize a series of internal workshops on enforcement procedures and exchange information on national practices, including in the context of implementing the upcoming Procedural Regulation.
The second key issue discussed in Dublin concerns cross-regulatory cooperation, which has become increasingly important in the current EU regulatory environment. The EU has built a comprehensive digital rulebook with the GDPR, Digital Markets Act, Digital Services Act and AI Act, shaping a framework for a safer, fairer and more innovative digital economy.
In that context, the board underlined the growing need for effective cooperation between regulators operating in adjacent areas of competence under EU law. To facilitate cross-regulatory cooperation, the EDPB called on the European Commission to establish a clear legal basis for information sharing among regulators with different competences. This will provide more legal certainty to allow competent regulators to exchange information, including confidential information, which might be relevant for enforcement in their respective areas of competence. A clear framework for cross-regulatory information sharing will also help remove barriers to cooperation and improve coherence of enforcement.
The Dublin meeting marked an important step toward a more integrated European enforcement architecture, with initiatives such as deeper operational alignment, greater consistency in interpretation, closer collaboration across regulatory boundaries, pooling resources, and the call for a clearer legal basis for information sharing between regulators, all of which are crucial to turning the ambition for more effective enforcement into practice.
