Brussels, 03/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - New European Data Protection Supervisor Giovanni Buttarelli set out his strategy for the period from 2015 to 2019 on Monday 2 March and identified “three strategic objectives and a number of actions to fulfil them”.
Buttarelli, an Italian national who was appointed EDPS in December 2014, began by saying that “this is a crucial moment for data protection, a period of unprecedented change and political importance. Our aims and ambitions for the next five years build on our strengths, successes and lessons learned. … Our goal is for the EU to speak - in full cooperation with colleagues at national level - with one voice on data protection, a voice which is credible, informed and relevant”.
The first priority he sets states that data protection must “go digital”. “Accountability in handling personal information is a global challenge; the EDPS will work across policy areas to promote technologies that enhance privacy, transparency, user control and accountability in big data processing”, Buttarelli said.
The second objective is to “forge global partnerships”. Since data protection laws are national, but personal information is not, the EDPS will invest in global partnerships with privacy and data protection authorities, fellow experts, non-EU countries, and international organisations to work towards a social consensus on principles that can inform binding laws, the design of business operations and technologies and the scope for interoperability of different data protection systems.
The third priority is to open “a new chapter for EU data protection”. The EDPS says that “reform of the EU data protection rules is urgent. While technological innovation races ahead, institutional reactions are slow. It is vital to adopt a new set of rules to make data protection easier, clearer and less bureaucratic in the future. In close cooperation with our colleagues in the Article 29 Working Party, the EDPS will be a more proactive partner in the discussions between the European Commission, Parliament and Council on the reform”.
EU justice ministers are hoping to make progress on this reform at their informal meeting less than a fortnight from now. A partial agreement is expected on the one-stop-shop mechanism, one of the most sensitive strands of the reform. (Solenn Paulic)