"Data protection regulators join forces and strive for coordinated solutions"
Data protection is a crucial factor for trust in the digital economy, bringing benefits to consumers and supporting business and the development of trade.
This has translated into a global trend towards an upward convergence of data protection standards, with countries around the world putting in place or updating their data protection frameworks. Convergence towards a high level of protection benefits individuals when their data is transferred abroad. It also facilitates trusted data flows and trade.
To be effective, a modern data protection regime needs strong oversight and enforcement. Having an independent supervisory authority benefits not only individuals who can turn to it with queries and complaints to have their rights enforced, but also business operators who can rely on guidance from the authority to ensure compliance with their obligations.
As new data protection laws are created or updated globally, new authorities are emerging. As they are established, these institutions often seek support from long-standing authorities, including those in place in the European Union, to share knowledge, experiences, and skills.
To this end, the European Commission has created the Data Protection Academy that offers support and training for newly created data protection authorities. It also provides a platform between EU authorities and their foreign counterparts to exchange views, best practices, and lessons learned. As such, it can help to build capacity and facilitate effective cooperation between privacy and data protection authorities globally as they often find themselves investigating similar issues or conducts.
The Academy offers a tailor-made programme designed to meet participants' specific needs. It brings together the expertise of representatives of the enforcement community, academia, the private sector, and European institutions. It also provides the possibility to organise study visits to European data protection authorities.
To date, the Academy has engaged with international partners such as:
- Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics (Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika) [2019]
- Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority (Autoridade Nacional de Proteção de Dados) [2021]
- Kenya’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner [2022, 2024]
- Rwanda’s Data Protection and Privacy Office [2023]
- Ibero-American Data Protection Network (Red Iberoamericana de Protección de Datos) [2023]
- Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission [2023]
