What is “Convention 108”?
Key Points:
Although the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) does not recognize a right to data protection, the Counsel of Europe (CoE) is the most influential international organization on data protection law. Convention 108 is to this day the only international legally binding agreement on data protection law. It closely aligns with European Data protection law. The CoE has issued several non-binding but very influential resolutions on data protection law. Convention 108 was recently updated to align with GDPR
Although the right to data protection is a relatively newcomer it has already found significant recognition under international law. The most influential international instrument on data protection law is the Convention for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data (“Convention 108"). Convention 108 is a legally binding instrument which was opened for signature on January 28 of 1981 by the Council of Europe (an international organization to which all EU countries belong).
Convention 108 is the seed from which the right to data protection sprouted and it is the reason why Europeans celebrate Data Protection Day annually on January 28th. It was, and still remains, the only legally binding international instrument in the data protection field. It applies to all data processing carried out by both the private and public…
