From November 28 to 30, 2018, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Costa Rica hosted the Annual Meeting of the Ibero-American Data Protection Network (RIPD)¹, / which was sponsored by Costa Rica’s Data Protection Agency (PROHAB).

A two-day conference was held in the framework of the meeting, led by privacy and cybersecurity experts from Latin America, the United States, Canada, and Europe. The meeting, which was attended by over 150 people, was inaugurated by the Minister of Justice and Peace, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, the Director of PROHAB, and the President of the RIPD.

The event provided an opportunity to discuss various topics of concern, both for data protection regulators and for members of the public. Chief among the conclusions of the event were the need to update compliance and supervision models in the enforcement of data protection rules, as well as the need to move past traditional administrative models in favor of models based on proactivity, privacy by design and by default, and diligence in guaranteeing the rights of citizens.

At the closed meeting on November 30, representatives of nine countries, as well as the European Data Protection Supervisor, and FIIAPP-EUROsociAL+² / had the opportunity to explore with the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) and the Department of International Law (DIL) of the OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs synergies and strategies for deepening technical cooperation amongst them.

Cooperation between the RIPD and the OAS General Secretariat is channeled through the DIL, which maintains cooperation links with the Network, to which it has been a permanent observer since 2013, having attended its closed meetings for several years.

The DIL has prepared various studies on legal frameworks, policies, and enforcement mechanisms in place for the protection of personal data, including domestic laws, regulations, and self-regulation. It has also advanced and organized several technical cooperation activities for the exchange of experience and expertise on such matters, and in its capacity as Technical Secretariat of the CJI has assisted with the development of principles in that regard. Recently, at its last regular session, the OAS General Assembly adopted resolution AG/RES. 2926 (XLVIII-O/18) in which it requested the CJI to begin updating the Principles on Protection of Personal Data, bearing in mind how such data have evolved. The DIL is actively involved in that exercise.

In the context of this meeting of the RIPD, the Network pledged to support and intensify its relationship with the CJI and the DIL in order to seek areas of convergence with a view to updating the principles established by the CJI on protection of personal data and privacy.  

The event was closed by the Director of the Spanish Data Protection Agency in its role as a Permanent Secretariat of the RIPD, the Chargé for Commercial Affairs of the Embassy of the European Union in Costa Rica, the Minister of Justice and Peace, the Director of PROHAB, and the President of the Republic. The latter expressed his country’s firm commitment to the issue and announced Costa Rica’s forthcoming accession to Council of Europe Convention 108.  

------------------------------------
1. The Ibero-American Data Protection Network and was established as a permanent information exchange forum open to all the member countries of the Ibero-American Community. Its objectives are to promote interagency cooperation and dialogue among key actors for the advancement data protection initiatives and policies as well as to foster policies, technologies, and methodologies to guarantee the fundamental right to protection of personal data.
2. EUROsociAL is a cooperation program between Latin America and the European Union that seeks to contribute to an improvement in social cohesion in Latin American countries, as well as institutional strengthening through support for their public policy design, reform, and implementation processes. EUROsociAL is currently in its third implementation cycle, under the leadership of FIIAPP.

» For the Guide to the Inter-American Juridical Committee Principles on Privacy and Protection of Personal Data, please visit click here