Where EU Consumer Law Meets Competition Law and Data Protection: Italy

Private actors collect personal data in the European Digital Market. In this context, the European data economy presupposes developingan effective balancing of overlapping or – depending uponthe circumstances – conflicting interests and values to pursuethe goals of the freedom of economic initiative and, at thesame time, protect the fundamental rights of European citi-zens. This article addresses this fundamental research ques-tion with respect to the cases where the enforcement of EUconsumer law should be balanced with the goals of EUcompetition law and data protection. It develops some pre-liminary conclusions by considering the holistic experience inthis regard of the Italian Competition Authority, which hascompetence for both competition law and consumer protec-tion, and the Data Protection Authority.Our conclusion confirms the need to develop a more inter-disciplinary approach in regulatory design and implementa-tion in the EU digital economy