The Organization of American States
(OAS), through the Department of
International Law (DIL), was
admitted as an Observer to the Advisory
Committee of the Council of Europe Convention
for the Protection of Individuals with regard to
Automatic Processing of Personal Data
(Convention 108) on November 18, during its 43rd
session.
Convention 108, adopted in 1981, is the only
binding international instrument on data
protection and was the Council of Europe's
response to the rapid progress in the field of
electronic information processing and the
emergence of the first databases, creating a
legal framework with concrete principles and
rules to prevent the illegal collection and
processing of personal data.
The signatory countries of this instrument
undertake to carry out the necessary reforms in
their national legislation to implement
principles such as the collection and processing
of personal data only for legitimate purposes,
limited retention, proportionality,
confidentiality and data quality, among others.
A standing Advisory Committee was also
established to submit proposals to facilitate
and improve the implementation of the
Convention.
Subsequently, on 10 October 2018, the European
Council adopted an Additional Protocol
(Convention 108+) in order to strengthen the
protection of personal data considering the
diversification, increase and globalization of
data processing activities and the flow of
information.
Convention 108 is open for accession by States
which are not members of the Council of Europe.
In the region, Uruguay, Mexico and Argentina
have done so.
With this important development, the DIL will
have the ability to participate in the main
forum for the protection of personal data
worldwide, raising the technical level of its
work for the benefit of the protection of the
personal data of the people of our region, and
sharing the experiences and developments
obtained in this area within the OAS, such as
the Updated Principles on Privacy and the
Protection of Personal Data, prepared by the
Inter-American Juridical Committee and approved
by the General Assembly in 2021.
» To visit the Department of
International Law (DIL) website,
click here.
» To learn more about the DIL’s work in protection of personal data,
click here.
» To view the Updated Principles on Privacy and the Protection of Personal Data,
click here.
