Data Protection Directive
| European Union directive | |
| Title | Directive on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data |
|---|---|
| Made by | European Parliament and Council |
| Journal reference | L281, 23/11/1995, p. 31–50 |
| History | |
| Date made | 24 October 1995 |
| Came into force | 13 December 1995 |
| Implementation date | 24 October 1998 |
| Preparative texts | |
| Commission proposal | C311, 27/11/1992, p. 30–61 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by | Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 |
| Current legislation | |
The Data Protection Directive (officially Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data) is a European Union directive adopted in 1995 which regulates the processing of personal data within the European Union. It is an important component of EU privacy and human rights law.
The General Data Protection Regulation, adopted in April 2016, will supersede the Data Protection Directive and is planned to be enforceable starting on 25 May, 2018.
The right to privacy is a highly developed area of law in Europe. All the member states of the European Union (EU) are also signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 8 of the ECHR provides a right to respect for one's "private and family life, his home and his correspondence", subject to certain restrictions. The European Court of Human Rights has given this article a very broad interpretation in its jurisprudence.
In 1980, in an effort to create a comprehensive data protection system throughout Europe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued its "Recommendations of the Council Concerning Guidelines Governing the Protection of Privacy and Trans-Border Flows of Personal Data". The seven principles governing the OECD’s recommendations for protection of personal data were:
The OECD Guidelines, however, were nonbinding, and data privacy laws still varied widely across Europe. The United States, meanwhile, while endorsing the OECD's recommendations, did nothing to implement them within the United States. However, all seven principles were incorporated into the EU Directive.
In 1981 the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data was negotiated within the Council of Europe. This convention obliges the signatories to enact legislation concerning the automatic processing of personal data, which many duly did.
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