Brussels, 02/07/2015(Agence Europe)- On Thursday 2 July, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Giovanni Buttarelli, from Italy, welcomed the step taken by the Ministers for Justice on 15 June last on the general regulation for data protection, as well as the trialogue meetings begun with the European Parliament. He described this as an “historic” period in data protection.
The Supervisor presented the organisation's annual report for 2014 and expressed the “great expectations” produced by this reform. He said that the eyes of the world were on the EU and that the latter did not have the right to make any mistakes in the standards that it is currently devising. Buttarelli said: “We can play a leading role” in the world. He will be publishing a more detailed opinion on this regulation later in the month. With regard to the other area of reform, the directive on processing personal data, ministers are not expected to deliver a general approach before next October, according to the calendar drawn up by the Luxembourg Presidency.
The Supervisor's recommendation will focus on effective safeguards, the so-called “one-stop” mechanism and the proximity principle. The reform will also have concrete implications for the European Supervisor, who will have a role to play on the future European Data Protection Board. This committee has also been called on to replace the Article 29 Workgroup.
In 2014, the institution received 110 complaints. This number is stable compared to the previous year but it does illustrate the need for future improvements in the data protection area, explained the EDPS assistant, Wojciech Wiewiorowski. (Solenn Paulic)