To mark Data Protection Day, the Council of Europe, the Computer, Privacy, Data Protection Conferences (CPDP), and the European Data Protection Supervisor have organised a conference in Brussels on 28 January to explore the current and future landscape of data protection.
The conference will address the challenges and opportunities at the intersection between emerging technologies and privacy risks, as well as between innovation and regulatory frameworks. It will also be an opportunity to tackle the need to protect personal data in the context of new technological developments in artificial intelligence and neuroscience.
The European Data Protection Supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, will deliver opening remarks. Beatriz de Anchorena, Chair of the Council of Europe's Data Protection Convention Consultative Committee and Director of Argentina's Agency for Access to Public Information, will give a keynote speech.
Every year Data Protection Day commemorates the opening for signature on 28 January 1981 of the Council of Europe's Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, known as "Convention 108". Data Protection Day has been celebrated since 2006, when the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to designate 28 January as Data Protection Day, aiming to raise awareness of the need to respect and protect individual privacy and highlighting the role of "Convention 108" for transborder data flows in the world. This day is celebrated worldwide, under the name "Privacy Day" outside Europe.
"Convention 108" was the first legally binding international instrument created worldwide to protect privacy in the digital age. So far, 55 states have ratified the treaty, including the Council of Europe's 46 member states as well as Argentina, Cabo Verde, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Uruguay.
A Protocol modernising "Convention 108" and considering the new challenges to personal data protection that emerged since 1981 was opened for signature in 2018. It will enter into force when 38 signatories have ratified it.
Data Protection Day has been celebrated since 2006, when the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to designate 28 January as Data Protection Day, aiming to raise awareness of the need to respect and protect individual privacy and highlighting the role of "Convention 108" for transborder data flows in the world. This day is celebrated worldwide, under the name "Privacy Day" outside Europe.
Conference website and programme
