Towards International Data Protection Standards

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

In October 2008, the 30th International Conference of Privacy and Data
Protection Commissioners in Strassbourg adopted a resolution on the urgent
need for protecting privacy in a borderless world, and for reaching a Joint
Proposal for setting International Standards on Privacy and Personal Data
Protection.

Following this resolution, the Spanish Data Protection Authority (DPA) – as
the organiser of the 31st international DPA Conference to be held in
November 2009 – has set up a working group on drafting this Joint Proposal.
The first meeting of this working group was held on invitation of the
Spanisch DPA and the DPA of Catalonia on 12 January in Barcelona.

Participants in this meeting were not only the interested international Data
Protection Authorities but also data protection experts from academia,
businesses and civil society, amongst which EDRi.

EDRi very much welcomes this standardisation initative of the International
Conference of Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners. Provided that the
defined standards are not set below the requirements of the current European
data protection legislation – which is very unlikely to happen – an
international standard on data protection will not only serve as an
important tool for international data exchange but also as a worldwide
benchmark for data protection legislation. Besides that, it provides the
opportunity to work on issues that are likely to cause difficulties with
emerging technologies (like for example the concept of the data controller
in RFID environments or cloud computing).

As this one day meeting clearly showed, the creation of an international
standard on Privacy and Personal Data Protection is not an easy task and it
is by far unclear whether this task can possibly be completed by the next
International Conference of Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners in
November 2009 in Madrid. But with the draft document provided by the
organisers of the meeting and the inputs provided by the participants in the
meeting a first step is already taken. In the following months the working
group will go into the details and present the outcomes at the Madrid
conference.

Resolution on the urgent need for protecting privacy in a borderless world,
and for reaching a Joint Proposal for setting International Standards on
Privacy and Personal Data Protection adopted by the 30th International
Conference of Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners (17.10.2008)
http://www.privacyconference2008.org/adopted_resolutions/STRASBOURG2008/resolution_international_standards_en.pdf

Announcement of the Barcelona Meeting by the DPA of Catalonia (only in
Spanish, 8.01.2009)
http://www.apdcat.net/noticia.php?not_id=93

Intervention of the director of the DPA of Catalonia (only in Spanish,
14.01.2009)
http://www.apdcat.net/noticia.php?not_id=97

Press statement of the Spanish DPA (only in Spanish, 13.01.2009)
https://www.agpd.es/portalweb/revista_prensa/revista_prensa/2009/notas_prensa/common/enero/090113_np_reunion_barcelona_estandares_privacidad.pdf

(contribution by Andreas Krisch – EDRi)