The Diplomat
Spain deposited yesterday at the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg the instrument of ratification of the Protocol of Amendment to the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data.
The Spanish ratification of this Protocol of Amendment has coincided precisely with the celebration of the European Data Protection Day and with the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, which took place on 28 January 1981, according to a press release issued yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Convention is a binding multilateral instrument on the protection of personal data that “has the vocation of becoming an international standard on privacy in the digital era” and that, “in the current context of the pandemic, takes on even greater importance, as it establishes a series of standards and legal and technical safeguards that allow mitigating the risks implicit in the management of the pandemic”, the Ministry continued.
The Council of Europe promoted the Protocol of Amendment in 2018 in view of the growing need to adapt the 1981 Convention to “the new realities of an increasingly interconnected world” and to strengthen “the degree of protection offered by the Convention with regard to personal data”, with special attention to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. “Spain has played an active role in the development of this Protocol”, according to the Ministry.
