Large-scale IT systems
Several databases (information systems) created or about to be created by the European Union (EU) can be considered large by various (sometimes all) measures: number of people using the system for different purposes, amount of data collected, stored, accessed, manipulated, number of connections between components, etc.
The EU is creating or updating several large scale IT systems in the area of border and police control: SIS II, VIS and Eurodac are three examples of these databases.
London initiative
At the 28th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners in London (November 2006), a statement was presented, entitled "Communicating data protection and making it more effective", which received general support from data protection authorities around the world.
This was a joint initiative of the president of the French data protection authority, the UK Information Commissioner and the EDPS. This is now referred to as the "London Initiative".
With a view to translating the statement into practical action, several workshops have been organised. They addressed the topics of communication, enforcement, strategy and internal organisation, and the notification of data breaches.
As one of the architects of the initiative, the EDPS has actively contributed to the follow-up so as to encourage the exchange of available experience and best practice between data protection authorities.