Hielke Hijmans

Dr Hielke Hijmans is Chairman of the Litigation chamber and member of the Board of Directors of the Belgian Data Protection Authority (“Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit/Autorité de la Protection des Donnnées). 

On a part time basis, he is affiliated to the Brussels Privacy Hub. He is member of the Meijers Committee on EU fundamental rights and teaches at various universities. He is the author of The European Union as Guardian of Internet Privacy: The Story of Art 16 TFEU (Springer 2016), which was based on his doctorate thesis. 

Until April 2019, he delivered services on a structural basis to the Centre for Information Policy Leadership (Washington, London, Brussels) and Considerati (Amsterdam). For 12 years (until 2016), Hielke served at the offices of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), inter alia as head of unit policy and consultation. Before joining the EDPS in 2004, he held a post as member of cabinet/legal secretary at the Cabinet of Advocate-General Geelhoed at the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. Furthermore, Hielke was counselor at the Directorate of Legislation of the Ministry of Justice in The Hague.