Ralf Sauer

Ralf Sauer is the Deputy Head of Unit in the European Commission, DG Justice and Consumer's international data protection unit. As such he is co-responsible for the entire work of this unit which covers data flows both for commercial purposes and in the area of law enforcement cooperation. The objective of the unit is to facilitate such data flows through multi- and bilateral arrangements at international level (including, for instance, the U.N., OPEC, Council of Europe, APEC) while ensuring a high level of data protection. It is also responsible for ensuring that data protection requirements are taken into account in the design/drafting of Commission measures involving data processing.
Ralf Sauer has been one of the negotiators of the EU-US Privacy Shield and is currently co-leading the discussions with a number of countries that have expressed an interest in an adequacy finding. He regularly participates in international conferences and panels on data protection issues.
Prior to joining DG Justice, Ralf Sauer worked for almost 10 years in the European Commission's Legal Service where he provided legal advice to various policy units of the Commission and represented the institution in more than 200 cases before the European Courts. He holds a Master and doctoral degree from Yale Law School.