European Data Protection Supervisor
| European Data Protection Supervisor | |
|---|---|
| Nominator | European Commission |
| Appointer | European Parliament and Council |
| Constituting instrument | Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 |
| Formation | 17 January 2004 |
| First holder | Peter Hustinx |
| Website | edps |
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is an independent supervisory authority whose primary objective is to ensure that European institutions and bodies respect the right to privacy and data protection when they process personal data and develop new policies.
Giovanni Buttarelli and Wojciech Wiewiórowski have been appointed European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and Assistant Supervisor respectively by a joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council. Appointed for a five-year term, they took office on 4 December 2014.
The duties and powers of the EDPS and the Assistant Supervisor, as well as the institutional independence of the supervisory authority, are set out in the "Data Protection Regulation". In practice the EDPS' activities can be divided into three main roles: supervision, consultation and cooperation.
In the "supervisory" role the EDPS' core task is to monitor the processing of personal data in European institutions and bodies. The EDPS does so in cooperation with the data protection officers (DPO) present in each European institution and body. The DPO has to notify the EDPS about any processing operations involving sensitive personal data or likely to pose other specific risks. The EDPS then analyses this processing in relation to the Data Protection Regulation and issues a "prior check" opinion. In most cases, this exercise leads to a set of recommendations that the institution or body needs to implement so as to ensure compliance with data protection rules.
In 2009 for instance the EDPS adopted more than 100 prior check opinions, mainly covering issues such as health data, staff evaluation, recruitment, time management, telephone recording performance tools and security investigations. These opinions are published on the EDPS website and their implementation is followed up systematically.
The implementation of the Data Protection Regulation in the EU administration is also closely monitored by regular stock taking of performance indicators, involving all EU institutions and bodies. In addition to this general monitoring exercise, the EDPS also carries out on-site inspections to measure compliance in practice.
The supervisory role of the EDPS also involves investigating complaints lodged by EU staff members or any other individual who feels that their personal data have been mishandled by a European institution or body. Examples of complaints include alleged violations of confidentiality, access to data, right of rectification, erasure of data, and excessive collection or illegal use of data by the controller.
The EDPS has also developed other forms of supervision, such as advice on administrative measures and the drafting of thematic guidelines.
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