EuroISPA, the largest pan-European association representing over 2.500 Internet Service Providers, renewed today its board, bringing together individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise for a two-year term.

After being excellently chaired by Oliver Süme since 2014, EuroISPA last Friday unanimously elected a new board of officers. Oliver Süme decided not to stand for election again, but will continue to be closely involved in EuroISPA’s activities as a member of the Council.

EuroISPA Vice-President Maximilian Schubert of ISPA Austria was elected President. Alexandra Laffitte, from the French association FFTélécoms, together with Innocenzo Genna from the Italian association AIIP, will act as Vice-Presidents. Alex de Joode from the Dutch association ICT Netherlands will serve as Treasurer.

“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Oliver Süme for his guidance and leadership of EuroISPA in engaging with the EU and international institutions. His legacy as President of EuroISPA will be long-lasting, with strong contribution to the organisation and its impact on a broad range of policy issues, from data protection, cybersecurity to intermediary liability”. said Dr. Maximilian Schubert. He further stated: “We strongly believe that the diversity of board members, will bring fresh energy to the Association. The renewed board will inject new expertise within EuroISPA from various different domestic legal cultures and experiences”.

The newly elected board has already set ambitious objectives in its next working program, including a strong focus on the intermediary liability regime and Artificial Intelligence, but also on pending files such as e-Privacy, e-Evidence, and the Copyright Directive reform. EuroISPA will continue to serve as a platform to exchange best practices between Members, bolstering its engagement with the European Institutions to ensure innovation-friendly legislation for the Internet industry.

The four combined experiences of the renewed board will be extremely valuable in EuroISPA’s continued work: Dr. Schubert’s field of expertise is directly linked to the liability of platforms, also with significant experience in cyber security issues. Mr. De Joode, also a member of the Europol Advisory group on telecom providers, is specialized in hosting and security, and Mr. Genna and Ms. Laffitte both have also a strong regulatory background, from both an incumbent and an alternative operator side. Mr. Genna has a strong focus on Copyright Law, and both Mr. De Joode and Ms. Laffitte are active with regards to Copyright Levies at the national level.

Meet the new board:

• Dr Maximilian Schubert, Chairman: After working for ISPA – the Austrian Association of Internet Service Providers as a legal expert he became General Secretary of ISPA in 2012. He earned his doctoral degree in the field of Intellectual Property Law at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz after obtaining an LL.M. degree in “Innovation, Technology and the Law” at the University of Edinburgh. He is working as a part time lecturer and has published a number of articles on IT-related topics in Austrian as well as in international journals. His main fields of expertise are telecom regulation law, ISP liability law as well as privacy matters.

• Innocenzo Genna, Vice-Chairman: Innocenzo Genna is a legal and policy expert for European telecoms and Internet sector. He publishes articles on newspapers and also on his professional blog RadioBruxellesLibera. He is also Board Member of the European Internet Forum. Previously, he was the chairman of ECTA, served as General Counsel for Tiscali S.p.A and was a partner at law firm Ughi e Nunziante. Innocenzo graduated in law (magna cum laude) at the University of Macerata in 1991 and subsequently got L.L.M. from both the College of Europe (Bruges) and the University of Trier. He has also been awarded a Diplome in Comparative Law from the International Faculty of Comparative Law of Strasbourg. Innocenzo is also a minimalist pianist and composer.

• Alexandra Laffitte, Vice-Chairwoman: Former fellow of the German Parliament, Alexandra chairs the Market and Services Committee since April 2018. She is in charge of both European Affairs,  and of the regulation online contents and uses at the French Telecoms Federation (Fédération Française des Télécoms) since March 2018, and is also a member of the French commission tasked to determine copyright levies. Before that, she was in charge of regulatory affairs and comparative Law at the French MVNO Transatel. Alexandra is an alumna of the Master’s program in Telecommunications and Space Law of the University Paris-Saclay, as well as of the Franco-German dual Law program of La Sorbonne and the University of Cologne.

• Alex De Joode, Treasurer: Alex was a Senior Regulatory Counsel responsible for handling internet- and copyright abuse, MLAT’s and other police requests and was also responsible for government contacts for a large EU headquartered global Internet Infrastructure Company. Current Alex is a public affairs manager for the Dutch National Trade Association “Nederland ICT”, where he specialises in (international) regulatory issues, amongst others e-evidence, notice & takedown procedures, copyright & levies and encryption.