Hielke Hijmans

Mr. Hielke Hijmans works for the Office of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Until 1 July 2014 he was Head of Unit for Policy and Consultations, and now as a special advisor responsible for ethical issues. During a sabbatical for over 12 months (1 July 2014 - 1 August 2015) he was an associated researcher of the Free University Brussels (VUB) and the University of Amsterdame and worked on his thesis about the role of the EU in the protection of fundamental rights, particularly privacy and data protection. He will defend his thesis with the title The European Union as a Constitutional Guardian of Internet Privacy and Data Protection: the Story of Article 16 TFEU on the 5th of February 2016. At the EDPS (from October 2004) he was responsible for the legislative opinions of the EDPS, the involvement of the EDPS in the development of policies by the EU Institutions, the cooperation with national data protection authorities, as well as to public access to documents and the representation of the EDPS before the Court of Justice, from 1 May 2010 as Head of Unit. He worked on a great variety of issues, inter alia on proposals in the area of police and judicial cooperation, on the reform of the European data protection legislation, and the relations between the EU and the US in these areas. Subject matters include the independence of supervisory authorities, PNR, data retention and the relationship between data protection and public access to documents. On those subject matters he also pleaded before the Court of Justice. From November 2000 to September 2004, he worked as referendaire in the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, at the Cabinet of Advocate-General Geelhoed. Until 2000, he held different posts within the Dutch administration, most recently as Counsellor on the quality of legislation in the Ministry of Justice in The Hague. His specialisations are quality of legislation, EU law and law on Internet and privacy, on which topics he published several articles.