Annual International Conference of Data protection authorities ends with new announcements

The theme of the 41st International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC) in Tirana, Albania, was “Convergence and connectivity raising global data protection standards in the digital age”. The conference began with the closed session, where members agreed a framework that continues to strengthen the group’s position as an effective international forum. Central to that is a policy strategy that sets out a clear vision for this organisation for the next two years. The policy strategy builds on the ICDPPC’s Madrid Declaration and last year’s Roadmap on the Future of the Conference. The ICDPPC also passed a number of resolutions: Resolution on the promotion of new and long-term practical instruments and continued legal efforts for effective cooperation in cross-border enforcement; Resolution on privacy as a fundamental human right and precondition for exercising other fundamental rights; Resolution to support and facilitate regulatory co-operation between data protection authorities and consumer protection and competition authorities to achieve clear and consistently high standards of data protection in the Digital Economy; Resolution to address the role of human error in personal data breaches; Resolution on social media and violent extremist content online. The next annual conference will take place in Mexico, and New Zealand in 2021.