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Claudia Berg

Claudia advises on all aspects of antitrust law, digital regulation and related litigation. Drawing on her considerable experience at the CMA and the ICO, her practice covers the full range of behavioural issues, merger control, government investigations and litigation, and the intersection of antitrust and privacy law. Claudia has strong experience in the technology and life sciences sectors.

As General Counsel of the ICO from 2021-2024, Claudia headed up the ICO Legal Service, oversaw the ICO’s litigation portfolio, and advised the Information Commissioner and the Board. During her time, she oversaw high-profile investigations into issues ranging from children’s privacy to AI. At the CMA, from its inception in 2014, she led a large team of antitrust attorneys working on the largest and most complex antitrust matters at the CMA, including successfully defending its decisions in the Courts. During Claudia’s tenure, the CMA’s strategic focus was on antitrust issues in the life sciences and tech sectors such as excessive pricing, pay for delay, information exchange, market sharing, multi-party concerted practices, parental liability, and most favoured nation clauses. Claudia worked closely with antitrust authorities in Europe, the US and throughout the world to co-ordinate investigations. She also regularly represented the CMA and the ICO at key international organisations, such as the International Competition Network and the Global Privacy Assembly.

Claudia advises on the critical intersection between antitrust and privacy, counselling clients on digital regulation in Europe (including the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC)), data protection, and AI.

Prior to the CMA, Claudia worked at a leading global law firm advising clients on all aspects of EU and UK merger control and conduct issues.

On 16 January 2025, the European Data Protection Board (“EDPB”) published a position paper, as it had announced last year, on the “interplay between data protection and competition law” (“Position Paper”).

In this blogpost, we outline the EDPB’s position on cooperation between EU data protection authorities (“DPAs”) and competition authorities (“CAs”) in the context of certain key issues at the intersection of data protection and competition law.

Key takeaways

  1. In the interest of coherent regulatory outcomes, the EDPB advocates for increased cooperation between DPAs and CAs.
  2. The Position Paper offers practical suggestions to that end, such as fostering closer personal relationships, mutual understanding, and a shared sense of purpose, as well as more structured mechanisms for regulatory cooperation.
  3. The EDPB is mindful of the Digital Markets Act’s (“DMA”) significance in addressing data protection and competition law risks.

Summary of the Position Paper

The EDPB first outlines certain overlaps between data protection and competition law (e.g., data serving as a parameter of competition). The EDPB argues that as both legal regimes seek to protect individuals and their choices, albeit in different ways, “strengthening the link” between data protection and competition law can “contribute to the protection of individuals and the well-being of consumers”.

The EDPB takes the view that closer cooperation between DPAs and CAs would therefore benefit individuals (and businesses) by improving the consistency and effectiveness of regulatory actions. Moreover, the EDPB emphasises that, based on the EU principle of “sincere cooperation” between regulatory authorities and pursuant to the European Court of Justice’s ruling in Meta v Bundeskartellamt (2023), cooperation between DPAs and CAs would be “in some cases, mandatory and not optional”.Continue Reading EDPB highlights the importance of cooperation between data protection and competition authorities