Ursula Pachl (Deputy Director General)

Ms. Pachl is the Deputy Director General of BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, representing 46 independent national consumer associations from 32 European countries. Before this, she has held different positions at BEUC, starting as Legal Advisor, than working as Senior Policy and Institutional Affairs Advisor.

In her current role Ms. Pachl leads BEUC’s work on digital policies, consumer rights, redress and enforcement. She is also responsible for horizontal and strategic policy such as EU governance and Better Regulation and represents BEUC in High Level groups, for example in the European Commission’s “Fit 4 Future” platform, the stakeholder group of the EU’s Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and previously in the European Commission’s High Level Group for Artificial Intelligence.

With over 20 years of experience, Ursula is a seasoned consumer lawyer and advocate who has helped to shape European consumer law and policy. In particular, she has developed BEUC’s co-ordinated law enforcement activities and works to expand these activities also to newer areas such as Data Protection Law infringements. She is passionate about mainstreaming consumer’s needs into EU policies. Digital rights and their enforcement are at the centre of her current work which aims at ensuring that the digital transformation takes the right direction, leading to a better society for all.

Prior to working for BEUC, Ursula worked for the Austrian Federal ministry for Health and Consumer Protection in Vienna and for the Austrian Consumer Information Association as a member of the consumer advisory board.

Ursula is the author of several articles in consumer law and policy journals and regularly comments on consumer issues in the media. She holds a master’s degree in law and a post-graduate degree in cultural management. The primary task of BEUC is to act as a strong consumer voice in Brussels and to try to ensure that consumer interests are given their proper weight in the development of all Union policies.