On the 5th of March the Ambassador Michele Giacomelli, Permanent Representative of Italy to the Council of Europe, signed the protocol which modifies the text of the 1981 Strasbourg Convention, opened for signature on the 10th October 2018, on behalf of the Italian Authorities and at the presence of Vice Secretary General Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni.
Known also as Convention 108 of the Council of Europe, it is one of the most important legal instruments for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data and it is, at the current stage, the only international legally binding tool in the domain of managing transborder data flows. The creation of a legal framework capable of facing violations in the
right to protection, in providing efficient guarantees and in simplifying the flow of data in an evolving digital context has been at the basis of the modernization of the 1981 Convention.
With this adherence, Italy renews its commitment in the protection of its citizens, through the principles that have inspired the Convention: fairness, lawfulness and scope of the processing of data. The new protocol introduces, in particular, a number of meaningful innovations in terms of obligation to communicate violations of data, reinforcement of data minimization, and transparency in elaboration. In particular, it requires that data processing is carried out proportionally and that the responsibility of information holders is highlighted, as well as the addition of biometric and genetic data into the category of sensitive data.
In addition to Italy, the signatory Countries of the protocol are 23 Member States of the Council of Europe, including Russian Federation, France and Germany.
