A father of four, Didier Reynders was born in Liège on 6th August 1958. In 1981, he obtained a degree in law at the University of Liège. Guest lecturer at the universities of Liège and Louvain, he has never really left the academic life until he became on 1th December 2019 European Commissioner for Justice.
After presiding the Belgian railways and the Belgian Airways Agency, he was elected Deputy Chairman of the PRL (Liberal party), before becoming a Member of Parliament in 1992.
On 12th July 1999, he became Minister of Finance (until 6th December 2011) and, on 18th July 2004, (concurrently) Deputy Prime Minister (until 30th November 2019).
He was Chairman of the Mouvement Réformateur (liberal party alliance) from 11th October 2004 until 14th February 2011.
He was Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs from 6th December 2011 until 11th October 2014.
He became Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, in charge of Beliris and Federal Cultural Institutions on 11th October 2014 (until 30th November 2019).
He has also been Minister of Defense since 9 December 2018.
Since 1th December 2019 he is European Commissioner for Justice, in charge of Rule of Law and Consumer Protection
EC-UNCTAD workshop - Panel 1: Consumer organisations on the product safety frontline
Consumer organisations have a great multiplier effect when it comes to product safety. They are a bridge between authorities and consumers. Which best practices can they share? What is their experience working with regulators? How do they see the new horizons of product safety?
Speakers:
Antonino Serra-Cambaceres is a lawyer, with a law degree at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 1990, he works in consumer protection and consumer law. He was the co-ordinator of the legal team at ADELCO, Argentina’s oldest consumer association. He participated in the drafting of Argentina’s Consumer Protection Law in 1992/3. In 1997 he created the Consumer Arbitration Courts of Argentina, where he was also an arbiter. In 1998 he joined Consumers International, as the legal co-ordinator at its Latin American & Caribbean Office in Chile. Currently, he is its global Advocacy Manager. He worked in projects and programmes at Consumers International that include law development, competition, access to knowledge, standards, CSR, e-commerce, product safety, among others. He coordinated the Euro-Latin American Consumer Dialogue between 2000 and 2003. He led Consumers International’s representationn in the review and update of the UN Guidelines for Consumer Protection, approved in 2015. He was one of the members of the team that drafted the Latin American Model Law for Consumer Protection, and coordinated the drafting committee of the Familiar Insolvency Law for Latin America and the Caribbean. He was professor at the postgraduate courses on consumer law and telecommunications law at the Faculty of Law at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and taught in several universities such as University of Chile, University of Concepción (Chile), Catholic University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), University of Québec at Montréal, and San Martín de Porres University (Perú).
EC-UNCTAD workshop - Panel 1: Consumer organisations on the product safety frontline
Consumer organisations have a great multiplier effect when it comes to product safety. They are a bridge between authorities and consumers. Which best practices can they share? What is their experience working with regulators? How do they see the new horizons of product safety?
Speakers:
Kristi Talving has been Director General in Estonia`s Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority since summer this year. Main areas of operation are safety surveillance, market regulation and monitoring the fulfilment of obligations arising from the law in the following fields: electronic communication, frequency management and media services; railway transport safety; safety of work, equipment and products requiring special competence; buildings, infrastructure permits and energy efficiency; consumer rights.
Previously she has been deputy secretary-general in Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications since 2017. She coordinated the development of the business and consumer environment, including digitisation, the service economy, foreign trade, and consumer affairs. From 2014 to 2017 Ms Talving led the ministry’s European Union and Foreign Relations Department, with responsibility for policy towards the EU in the fields of competitiveness, transport, telecoms, energy, and foreign trade, as well as planning Estonia’s presidency of the Council of the EU.
She has been a member of government task forces on artificial intelligence, the circular economy and covid-19.
She has been Chairman of Board of Estonian Stockpiling Agency and member of board of Estonian Environmental Research Center, National Metrology Institute and Estonian e-Residency Programme.
EC-UNCTAD workshop - Panel 1: Consumer organisations on the product safety frontline
Consumer organisations have a great multiplier effect when it comes to product safety. They are a bridge between authorities and consumers. Which best practices can they share? What is their experience working with regulators? How do they see the new horizons of product safety?
Speakers: