Joanna Szychowska has been appointed Director of Asia (I), Services and Digital Trade, Investment and Intellectual Property in DG Trade of the European Commission in February 2022.

She is responsible for the EU trade and investment strategy and policy towards the Far East. She also leads the development, negotiation and implementation of rules and policies in the fields of services and digital trade, investments and intellectual property – in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora.

From June 2015 to January 2022, she was heading Mobility Unit in DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. 

Her responsibilities focused on strengthening competitiveness of the European automotive industry, implementation of the regulatory framework and international harmonization of requirements.

Before joining the Mobility Unit, she was Head of Unit in charge of EU public procurement policy and enforcement of the legislation in selected EU Member States. 

She was previously a member of the Cabinet of Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen, responsible for Enterprise and Industry and between 2004 and 2007, a member of the Cabinet of Commissioner Danuta Hübner, responsible for Regional Policy. 

In 1996 Ms. Szychowska joined the Office of the Committee for European Integration in Warsaw, where she was involved in the harmonisation of Polish law with EC law and the preparation of accession negotiations, from 2001 as Director of the Department of European Law. 

Ms. Szychowska studied Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw and the University of Utrecht and accomplished European Studies at the College of Europe, Natolin. In 1999, she passed her final judge’s examination at the Warsaw Court of Appeal.