Conflict of interest of special advisers - Commission

The European Commission can engage a special adviser who, by reason of his/her special qualifications, assists the Commission either regularly or for a specified period. Before the engagement, the Commission analyses the activities of special advisers in order to avoid conflict of interest with their future activity as special advisers. Then, the special advisers' name, CV, photo, mandate as well as the declaration on honour will be published on the Europa website.

 

The EDPS has issued an opinion on the verification of lack of conflict of interest of special advisers and on publication of their personal data on Europa website. The EDPS concludes that on a general basis the procedure complies with the principles established in the data protection regulation. However the EDPS did make some recommendations mainly as concerns raising awareness regarding the publication of potentially sensible personal data on the Europa website. The EDPS suggested that the publication of the special advisers' photo should be optional and that the Commission staff should verify, before the publication on the Europa website, if the data included by the special adviser in his/her Curriculum Vitae are not irrelevant or excessive in relation to the purpose of the processing.