TL;DR for the DPO
The EDPB and the European Commission are drafting joint guidelines on the interplay between competition and data protection, and before writing them they are listening. The event is on 15 October 2026, remote, and to take part you must express interest by 28 August. If you have clients in concentrated markets - platforms, marketplaces, large retail, digital services - this is an open door that closes in a few weeks.
What was announced
On 30 July 2026 the EDPB announced that, together with the European Commission, it is organising a remote stakeholder event as part of their joint work on upcoming guidelines on the interplay between competition and data protection. The date is 15 October 2026, and the stated purpose is to inform and support the ongoing work on the topic.
Individuals and organisations with relevant expertise may take part. Expressions of interest go through a dedicated form and the call is open until 28 August 2026. The 30 July announcement came a week after a save-the-date notice on 23 July: a sign the calendar was confirmed quickly.
The deadline is 28 August
It is a short window, and it falls in a month when firms are closed. A DPO advising clients in concentrated markets has a chance here to put operational experience in front of the drafters before the text exists, rather than commenting on it once it is in public consultation and the fundamental choices have already been made.
Why the EDPB is looking at competition
Because the two worlds have touched and will not come apart again. A dominant undertaking collects data no competitor can collect, and that data reinforces the dominant position: it is the loop competition law has learned to watch and that the GDPR never set out to regulate. From the opposite direction, consent given to an operator with no real market alternative raises a question about freedom of choice that is a data protection matter before it is a competition one.
The work sits within the cross-regulatory cooperation the EDPB has placed at the centre of its 2024-2027 strategy and of the Helsinki statement. It follows the same direction as the guidelines on the interplay between the DSA and the GDPR, adopted in September 2025 as the first of the series, and the parallel work under way on the DMA and the AI Act.
The picture it fits into
- DSA and GDPR: guidelines adopted in September 2025, the first devoted to the intersection between the Regulation and the new European digital laws.
- DMA and GDPR: joint guidelines with the Commission, in progress.
- AI Act and data protection law: joint guidelines announced, expected by the end of 2026.
- Competition and data protection: the table opening now, with the October event as the first public step.
- Anti-money laundering: joint EDPB-AMLA guidelines, announced on 1 July 2026, with consultation expected in the first half of 2027.
What changes in daily work
In the immediate term, nothing: there are no new obligations and no text to apply. What changes is the horizon against which two questions already landing on the DPO's desk are read. The first is whether consent collected by an operator with no workable alternative is genuinely freely given within the meaning of Article 4(11). The second is whether data sharing between companies in the same group, or between commercial partners, can be read as a competitive advantage before it is read as processing needing a legal basis.
It is also worth noting what this announcement is NOT. It is not a public consultation on a draft: that comes later and will be open to everyone. This is the stage before, where it is decided what the document will be about. It is the moment when a contribution weighs most, and the moment when almost nobody sends one.
How to use it, practically
Even without applying, note the date: the guidelines that come out of this will say how the freedom of consent is assessed in a market with no alternatives. That is precisely the defence your largest clients will run, or face, over the next two years.
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