Policy Implementation

From regulation to real-world practice

Europe has built one of the most comprehensive digital rulebooks in the world. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), the Data Governance Act (DGA), the Data Act (DA), the Interoperability Act, the NIS II Directive on cybersecurity, and the forthcoming Cyber Resilience Act together define a robust framework for how data, systems, and infrastructures should operate. These laws are designed to safeguard rights, strengthen trust, and ensure Europe’s competitiveness in the Digital Decade. But regulation alone does not guarantee outcomes. The challenge lies in implementation: making these rules work in practice, across diverse organisations, technologies, and sectors.

Why this matters

For many organisations, compliance risks becoming a box-ticking exercise. Regulations are treated as constraints rather than as enablers of trusted, resilient, and competitive digital ecosystems. The result is often fragmented approaches, costly remediation, or missed opportunities for innovation. At the same time, regulators and citizens expect more than paper compliance: they expect demonstrable accountability, embedded safeguards, and systems that work in practice.

Policy implementation is therefore not a one-off legal review but a continuous process of aligning governance, technology, and organisational culture. It is about making obligations operational, measurable, and future-proof.

Our approach

We help organisations move from principles to practice across the regulatory spectrum:

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – embedding privacy and data protection by design and by default, operationalising rights such as access, erasure, and portability, and ensuring robust data governance frameworks.

Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act) – preparing for risk classification, conformity assessment, and post-market monitoring, and ensuring transparency, explainability, and human oversight in AI-enabled systems.

Data Governance Act (DGA) – enabling trusted data-sharing mechanisms, supporting data intermediaries, and aligning voluntary data-sharing with accountability frameworks.

Data Act (DA) – operationalising user access rights, designing fair contractual models between data holders and recipients, and ensuring secure and resilient processes for data sharing and switching.

Interoperability Act – supporting the development of cross-border, cross-domain digital services, embedding open standards, and ensuring interoperability between public administrations and private actors.

NIS II Directive – strengthening cybersecurity risk management, incident reporting, and governance across critical and essential entities, ensuring operational resilience in an interconnected environment.

Cyber Resilience Act – embedding cybersecurity requirements across the lifecycle of digital products and connected devices, from design to deployment and maintenance.

We support by combining legal, technical, and organisational expertise. This means aligning policies with real systems, translating regulatory language into concrete requirerements, and designing governance structures that ensure accountability and resilience.

“When planning for a year, plant corn. When planning for a decade, plant trees. When planning for life, train and educate people.”
– Chinese proverb
“We are the independent, global strategic & legal advisory and knowledge partner, dedicated to co-create trailblazing, long-lasting partnerships and impact.”
Arthur van der Wees, Founder & Managing Director of ARTHUR