ESOMAR

ESOMAR is the global voice of the research, analytics and insights community, speaking on behalf of over 6000 individual professionals and 700 companies who provide or commission research, analytics and insights in more than 130 countries, all of whom agree to uphold the ICC/ESOMAR International Code.

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ID: 29952722795-07

Lobbying Activity

Response to Digital package – digital omnibus

14 Oct 2025

Esomar welcomes the Commissions initiative to simplify and harmonise the EUs digital rulebook, aiming to increase legal clarity and ensure consistent application of digital rules across the Union. Representing the global market research, insights, and data analytics sector, we advocate for a coherent and streamlined EU digital framework that enables the sector to continue delivering high-quality insights that benefit citizens, businesses, and policymakers. 1)The implementation of the GDPR has revealed significant challenges for the research sector, including inconsistent national interpretations, legal uncertainty in complex data processing chains, and misalignment with other legislative frameworks. Esomar urges the Commission to provide clearer guidelines for determining the roles and responsibilities of controllers, processors, joint controllers, and third parties. The current default assumption that clients commissioning research projects are always data controllers oversimplifies the nuanced nature of research partnerships, where suppliers often determine methodologies and handle personal data independently. A case-by-case assessment would better reflect these relationships and ensure accurate attribution of responsibilities. 2) Esomar calls for a harmonised approach to scientific research. The absence of a clear definition of scientific research has led to inconsistent applications and operational challenges. We support a broad and inclusive interpretation of Article 89 GDPR, encompassing all legitimate forms of empirical research involving personal data. The framework should reflect the diversity of research purposes, funding sources, and applications. This approach would enhance legal certainty, ensure consistency and facilitate ethical data use in research and AI development. 3) Legal uncertainty persists around the GDPRs application to pseudonymised data. Esomar supports a context-based interpretation, consistent with the ECJs ruling in Case C-413/23 P, whereby pseudonymised data does not automatically constitute personal data for the recipient and a case-by-case assessment is necessary. Clarifying this point would provide more legal clarity to research organisations handling large datasets and would support proportionate, risk-based data governance. 4) Esomar calls for greater harmonisation in the interpretation of legitimate interest as a legal basis for personal data processing, to ensure its appropriate application across different frameworks and reduce consent fatigue among data subjects. 5) We call for renewed efforts to harmonise the GDPR with the outdated ePrivacy Directive, particularly in areas such as consent and audience measurement exemptions. The withdrawal of the ePrivacy Regulation presents an opportunity to build a coherent framework that supports responsible data use and enhances legal certainty. 6) As the EU AI Act progresses towards implementation, it is important to reconcile the GDPRs principle of data minimisation with the need for sufficient, representative datasets to ensure fairness and mitigate bias, as required by the EU AI Act. While data minimisation remains a foundational privacy safeguard, it must be balanced with other data practices principles, such as fairness, transparency, and accountability, whose successful implementation requires access to adequate data. 7) Esomar highlights the need to support SMEs within the research and insights ecosystem. The growing concentration of AI capabilities among a few, large providers risks marginalising smaller actors. Esomar advocates for proportionate accountability obligations in the AI Act, targeted exemptions, and simplified procedures for SMEs, recognising their lower risk profile and limited AI literacy.Formal recognition of self-regulatory tools, such as the ICC/ESOMAR International Code of Conduct, would allow to demonstrate compliance and maintain competitiveness within the European research landscape. See position paper attached

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Response to Digital Fairness Act

14 Oct 2025

Our associations are responding to the European Commissions call for evidence: Digital Fairness Act. Our associations welcome the European Commissions initiative, which aims to protect consumers from manipulative design practicescommonly referred to as dark patternsand promote fairness in digital environments. Our response seeks to: Support the Acts objectives. Clarify the implications for the research and insights sector. Ensure that legitimate research practices are not inadvertently restricted We strongly support the Acts aim to protect consumers, especially vulnerable groups, from manipulative digital practices. The emphasis on shielding social media users from dark patterns, particularly children and other vulnerable individuals, is crucial. Including best practices for interface design and transparency is a welcome development. We recommend that the definition of dark patterns be clearly contextualised to apply specifically to consumer-facing digital services. Techniques like emotional nudging and visual cues, when used in behavioural science research, serve legitimate and ethical purposes. These methods are employed to study decision-making, enhance public interest campaigns, and inform policy interventions. For example, emotionally evocative messaging or visual prompts are used ethically to understand responses to health warnings or social responsibility messages. Although these techniques may resemble dark patterns in form, their application in behavioural research is fundamentally different. Research contexts involve informed consent, ethical oversight, and transparency, distinguishing them from deceptive tactics targeted by dark pattern regulations. Stirring effects and visual nudges are legitimate tools in market, opinion, and social research. Misapplying the definition of dark patterns risks conflating unethical commercial manipulation with scientifically rigorous and ethically governed research. This could undermine valuable methodologies and disrupt sectors reliant on behavioural science to understand public sentiment, guide policy, and improve services. Broad restrictions could discourage the use of these techniques, compromising research quality. Importantly, these methods are not designed to induce commercial transactions or manipulate decisions for profit. Their purpose is often to serve the public interest or support evidence-based policy design. We urge the European Commission to ensure the definition of dark patterns is context-specific and narrowly tailored. It must distinguish exploitative interface design in consumer platforms from legitimate behavioural science methodologies in research contexts. These are governed by ethical standards, Codes of Conduct, and best practices, such as the ICC/ESOMAR International Code. Clear differentiation will preserve the integrity of behavioural research while enabling the Act to effectively target harmful manipulative practices in the digital consumer space.

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Response to European Data Union Strategy

17 Jul 2025

EFAMRO and ESOMAR welcome the European Commissions initiative to develop a coordinated European Data Union Strategy aimed at enhancing data sharing, improving data quality, and reducing regulatory fragmentation. Representing the European and global market, opinion, and social research sector, which accounts for a reported annual turnover of 34.02 billion, our associations advocate for a data governance framework that supports ethical, transparent, and scientifically grounded research practices. We believe that the successful delivery of a harmonised European data governance framework will empower the research sector to continue delivering high-quality insights that benefit citizens, businesses, and policymakers across the globe. In response to the Commissions call for evidence, we highlight several key challenges and recommendations: 1. Legal Clarity in the GDPR: The current lack of harmonisation and conservative interpretations across Member States has led to legal uncertainty, particularly in complex data processing chains like those frequently found in market-research use-cases. We urge the Commission to develop clearer, harmonised guidelines for determining roles and responsibilities of controllers, processors, joint controllers and third-parties. In the context of market research activities, the dichotomy of controller, joint controllers and processor is not always clear or reflective of the complexity of a data chain, resulting in legal uncertainty around liability and responsibility. A case-by-case assessment should replace the default assumption that clients commissioning a research project are always data controllers, as this oversimplifies the nuanced nature of research partnerships in which it is often the research suppliers specialised expertise to shape detailed research project proposals, with limited involvement from commissioning clients. 2. Scientific Research Framework: We advocate for a broad and inclusive interpretation of Article 89 GDPR to encompass all legitimate forms of empirical research where personal data are processed, which is also the case for market, opinion and social research. The absence of a clear definition of scientific research has resulted in inconsistent applications and operational challenges for our sector. In light of this, we recommend a common EU framework for scientific research that reflect the diverse research purposes, finding sources and applications. Furthermore, as the EU AI Act moves toward implementation, it is essential to ensure consistency with GDPR provisions regarding exemptions for scientific and statistical data processing. 3. Alignment between the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive: We also call for renewed efforts to harmonise the GDPR with the outdated ePrivacy Directive, particularly in areas such as consent and audience measurement exemptions. The withdrawal of the ePrivacy Regulation in early 2025 presents an opportunity to build a coherent framework that supports responsible data use and enhances legal certainty. 4. Recognition of Self-Regulatory Instruments: International codes of conduct, such as the ICC/ESOMAR International Code on Market, and Social Research and Data Analytics, provide robust ethical and professional standards for data processing in research. These instruments should be recognised as effective tools for interpreting legal requirements and guiding responsible data use. More detailed recommendations can be found in the attached position paper.

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Response to Report on the application of the General Data Protection Regulation

8 Feb 2024

This paper attached is submitted on behalf of: EFAMRO the European Federation of Associations of Market Research Organisations. Founded in 1992, EFAMRO represents the interests of market, opinion and social research in Europe. Its members are national trade associations for research businesses in across Europe. ESOMAR the global voice of the data, research, and insights community since 1947, gathers more than 8,000 individual and corporate members in over 130 countries. ESOMAR promotes professional and ethical standards and the value of market, opinion and social research in decision making. EFAMRO and ESOMAR represent the research and insights sector, accounting for a reported annual turnover of 20.87 billion in Europe.

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Response to Virtual worlds, such as metaverse

2 May 2023

Our response to the call for evidence: Virtual worlds (metaverses) a vision for openness, safety and respect. About ESOMAR ESOMAR champions the research, insights, and analytics sector worldwide. Founded in 1947, the global membership association is a network reaching over 50,000 professionals and 750+ companies in 130+ countries. We support our global community through raising ethical standards, facilitating education, advocating with legislators, sharing best practices, promoting evidence-based solutions for decision-makers, and ensuring the values of honesty, transparency, and objectivity are applied to all data sources. ESOMAR represents the data, research and insights sector, accounting for in Europe a reported annual turnover of 20.87 billion. About Market, Opinion and Social Research Market, opinion and social research is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organisations using the statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making. It involves systematic study of different spheres of society, politics, and the economy. Research, insight and analytics stand at the heart of all well-informed commercial, social and political decisions. Insight into what makes a product, business initiative or government policy work is often the hidden yet defining factor between success and failure. It is our sector that provides the deeper intelligence needed for our world today. Its purpose is to deliver information and insights about peoples behaviour, needs and attitudes to inform decision making by providers of goods and services, governments, individuals, and society at large. Insight into what makes a product, business initiative, consumer or government policy is often the hidden yet defining factor between success and failure. It is important to distinguish Market Research from direct marketing and marketing communications. Direct marketing is for the purposes of advertising products to individuals or the promotion of consumer good, whereas Market Research is a scientific endeavor, and it is not interested in the identity of the data subjects. Many research and analytics providers subscribe to established self-regulation schemes that enable research respondents and participants to enforce their rights. These are built on established international standards set forth by the ICC/ESOMAR International Code and national codes across many EU countries. This Code is based upon three fundamental principles that have characterised market, opinion and social research throughout its history. They provide an interpretative background for the application of the substantive articles of the Code: 1. When collecting personal data from data subjects for the purpose of research, researchers must be transparent about the information they plan to collect, the purpose for which it will be collected, with whom it might be shared and in what form. 2. Researchers must ensure that personal data used in research is thoroughly protected from unauthorised access and not disclosed without the consent of the data subject. 3. Researchers must always behave ethically and not do anything that might harm a data subject or damage the reputation of market, opinion and social research. Our Response We welcome the European Commissions intention to develop a vision for emerging virtual worlds (e.g. metaverses), which is based on respect for digital rights and EU laws and values and which aims at ensuring that such virtual worlds. The concept of the metaverse can be compared to a fresh marketplace where consumers will engage with brands and services in novel ways, causing changes in their behavior and considerations. Therefore, researchers need to investigate consumer preferences and trade-offs to understand how they optimize their purchasing decisions. Currently, products and services lack insight into this new world, and

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Response to Declaration of Digital Principles

8 Jun 2021

ESOMAR is the global voice of the research, analytics and insights community, speaking on behalf of over 6000 individual professionals and 500 companies who provide or commission research, analytics and insights in more than 130 countries. With this statement we wish to express our support to the initiative for a Declaration of Digital Principles and provide the Commission with insights on the functioning and self-regulatory nature of the research and insights sector. • We strongly support the Roadmap’s desire that all Europeans participate in the democratic process and believe that our sector is a fundamental supporter and contributor to this process, as we can monitor and ensure participation through our polling and consumer feedback capabilities and resources. We ensure that the voice of civil society is heard in a representative and unbiased way through scientific research, based on an unambiguous respect for data privacy and security. To this end it is vital that the scientific research undertaken by our sector is safeguarded and we believe that the Declaration of Digital Principles would be a great help in ensuring that aim. • Consequently we support the statement in the roadmap that “Establishing a comprehensive set of data principles can strengthen the common understanding of a human-centric, secure and open digital environment and shape the European way for the digital society” Throughout the long history of market, opinion, and social research and data analytics researchers have recognized that individual data subjects have an inherent right to determine when and how their personal data is collected and used. To this end our work has been governed by three overriding principles: · When collecting personal data from data subjects for the purpose of research, researchers must be transparent about the information they plan to collect, the purpose for which it will be collected, with whom it might be shared, and in what form. · Researchers must ensure that personal data collected and used in research is thoroughly protected from unauthorised access and/or use and not disclosed without the consent of data subjects. · Researchers must always behave ethically, comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and not do anything that might harm data subjects or damage the reputation of market, opinion and social research and data analytics. These principles have formed a foundation of trust on the part of the general public, whose data we rely on, and the clients who hire us to help them make better decisions and succeed over the long-term. In addition, these fundamental principles form the cornerstone of our self-regulatory mechanism for more than 70 years. The pandemic has accelerated the move to a digitally driven world and the research sector has been no exception. Many research methodologies and capabilities have migrated to online, digital platforms, but crucially, this evolution has all the while, fully respected the principles enshrined in the ESOMAR Code of Conduct. There are however new challenges. AI and the use of Secondary Data challenges researchers to adapt to a changing environment in which data subjects are in danger of having less control over data collection, and where implicit bias can gravely impact on machine learning systems and influence A.I. applications; in this regard, market researchers have a critical role to play in guiding the respectful and objective application of data, and helping to ensure that no harm ensues to the data subject. The Declaration of Digital Principles should help to reinforce the fundamental rights of civil society to data privacy. As the global trade association for the market research, social and public opinion sector we welcome the opportunity to be an involved, active and experienced participant in the two proposed consultations on the Declaration of Digital Principles and the Digital Compass Policy Programme.

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Response to Report on the application of the General Data Protection Regulation

29 Apr 2020

ESOMAR is the global voice for the data, research and insights community, representing a sector with a reported annual turnover of €10billion. Market, opinion and social research and data analytics is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organisations using the statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making.

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Meeting with Werner Stengg (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager)

3 Mar 2020 · Data Strategy; E-Privacy

Meeting with Christiane Kirketerp De Viron (Cabinet of Commissioner Carlos Moedas)

23 Oct 2018 · Horizon Europe and Open Data

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

20 Sept 2018 · GDPR, privacy shield, e-privacy

Meeting with Andrus Ansip (Vice-President) and

30 Jan 2018 · GDPR, e-privacy

Meeting with Laure Chapuis-Kombos (Cabinet of Vice-President Andrus Ansip)

12 Oct 2015 · Safe Harbour