Public Consultation on The Data Protection Directive

Frederik Kortbæk — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 03:32:16 +0000

The Art. 29-working Group (representatives of the EU Data Protection Agencies) has recently launched a public Consultation on the legal framework for the fundamental right to protection of personal data ( can be reached via this link), welcoming contributions from everybody ( citizens, organizations and public authorities).
The Data Protection Directive was implemented in 1995 by the European Commission. In recent years a possible revision of the directive has been the subject of ongoing debate among political institutions and non governmental organisations and experts motivated by the introduction of anti-terror legislation after 11th September 2001 in particular but also in the light of new technologies and the growth of online social networks like Facebook.
Allow me to draw your attention to a recent report ”Review of the European Data Protection Directive” published by Rand Europe with recommendations on how to improve the data protection regime for citizens living in European countries : http://danskprivacynet.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/review_of_eu_dp_directive.pdf
I warmly encourage contributions from as many of you as possible. The intention is to issue a Pan-European joint statement coordinated with data protection and privacy and human rights advocates cross Europe. I strongly believe that WG29 would attach importance to a joint European initiative.
The European Privacy Institute is working on a coordination setup with a couple of other organizations in order to formulate recommendations based on the received contributions. In the meantime contact The EuroeanPrivacy Institute for furhter information or please leave a comment.
Contribution deadline: 31 th December 2009.
Will be updated.

Statement by Coordinator, Director Frederik Kortbæk

Frederik Kortbæk — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:03:17 +0000

I am extremely encouraged as well as delighted that we have achieved as much as we have since the launch of The European Privacy Institute Initiative early December 2006.

Today (Stand: September 2009) The Scientific Advisory Committee and the Executive Committee counts 91 members representing 59 universities, 11 research institutions, 9 organizations, 6 consultancies and 2 EU research centres from 32 European countries including all 27 EU countries, 3 EU associated countries and 2 EU candidate countries. It has been an overwhelming experience to see so many key European scientists, researchers and experts team up on this visionary project. In this connection I would like to accentuate the backing of colleagues from the newest EU countries, Bulgaria and Romania and from Turkey and Croatia as EU candidate countries in particular.

It is clear that the nature of privacy is designed to promote a dynamic and sustainable democratic society. We are facing many challenges but we also have the opportunity to set out a new agenda for European privacy research. A new research institution created by EU accession gives authority and this recognition should have the effect of placing privacy more centrally in European general efforts to address the realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms as it is obvious that we need to both increase the positive and to limit the negative impacts of scientific and technological development on privacy. The immense and enthusiastic support for this initiative is indeed bridging Europe in an excellent manner.

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