European Data Protection Supervisor
The EU's independent data protection authority
In public health, contact tracing is the process to identify individuals who have been in contact with infected persons.
The EDPS and EDPB trainees share their thoughts on the future of the EU.
The outbreak of Covid-19 is affecting our lives at an unprecedented pace. It is testing the resilience of our societies as we respond to this global crisis and try to contain its consequences, both in the short and in the long run.
Covid-19 outbreak is also testing fundamental rights to data protection and privacy. EU Member States, EU institutions and Big Tech companies are trying to explore solutions to tackle the uncontrolled spread of the virus.
As a result, the EDPS established a Covid-19 task force to follow developments and to prepare for the future of data protection and privacy after Covid-19 crisis.
The outbreak of Covid-19 is affecting our lives at an unprecedented pace. Personal data have and will continue to play an important role in the fight against the pandemic.
Introductory remarks by Wojciech Wiewiórowski at the committee for European Affairs of the senate of the Republic of France
Watch video address by Wojciech Wiewiórowski.
Read full text.
EDPS Comments to DG CONNECT of the European Commission on monitoring of COVID-19 spread.
Read the press release.
When we started our work on the Strategy for the five-year mandate of the European Data Protection Supervisor, one of the first issues we discussed was whether it should be either a living document, ready to be changed or adjusted, or a robust, future-proof plan.
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the EDPS has decided to activate its Business Continuity Plan. All EDPS staff will be teleworking from 13 March to 29 May 2020. We understand it as a change of working modality, and we try to operate as normally as possible. We invite you to contact us via our general email: edps@edps.europa.eu, or using the contact form.
2019 could be described as a year of transition, across Europe and the world. The 2019 Annual Report provides an insight into all EDPS activities in 2019, which was the last year of a five-year EDPS mandate. EDPS activities therefore focused on consolidating the achievements of previous years, assessing the progress made and starting to define priorities for the future. Read the Press Release.
EDPS Opinion on the opening of negotiations for a new partnership with UK.
On 13 February, the EDPS organised a workshop to discuss and debate challenges and opportunities of AI and Facial Recognition applications in the future to come.
The event gathered more than 50 leading researchers, experts and practitioners from academia, regulators, business and civil society, to share their insights and experiences to deepen our understanding of the challenges ahead and the possible policy responses.
There was a general consensus that as AI can have a significant impact both on an individual and on society as a whole, clear red lines on certain extremely high-risk scenarios need to be defined where the essence of rights and freedoms of individuals may be at stake.
Artificial Intelligence should be used to improve our lives, individually and as a society, but such improvement should never come at the cost of our values and fundamental rights.
Closing remarks by Wojciech Wiewiórowski at CPDP 2020.
On 28 January each year, member states of the Council of Europe and EU institutions celebrate Data Protection Day. It marks the anniversary of the Council of Europe’s data protection convention, known as “Convention 108”. It was the first binding international law concerning individuals’ rights to the protection of their personal data. Happy Data Protection Day!
Read the informative leaflet.
