ICO carries resolution encouraging greater co-ordination of global data protection enforcement

The ICO led on the debate on international enforcement co-ordination at the 35th International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners yesterday. The two-day commissioners' conference was attended by delegates representing data protection authorities and privacy enforcement authorities from all over the world.

At the conference the UK Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, reported on the work of the International Enforcement Co-ordination Working Group (IECWG) of which he is co-chairman.

Moving the successful resolution, Information Commissioner Christopher Graham said:

“Data protection has to be effective across borders. The service providers today are often global players. The applications know no borders. The data protection regulatory community can only be effective if we work together across jurisdictions.

“We are making great strides forward in enforcement co-ordination. The Warsaw conference saw further progress in this vital task.
The resolution, which was adopted unanimously, aims to improve co-ordination across the different jurisdictions and, in summary, sought:
· To mandate the IECWG to work with other networks to develop a common approach to cross border case handling and enforcement coordination, to be expressed in a multilateral framework document with a view to adoption at the 36th Conference in Mauritius in 2014. This approach will build on work already done by the conference and elsewhere, in particular to address the sharing of enforcement related information and will not interfere with other similar arrangements by other networks.
· To encourage privacy enforcement authorities to look for concrete opportunities to cooperate in particular investigations involving cross-border issues.
· To support the development of a secure information platform which offers a ‘safe space’ for privacy enforcement authorities to share confidential information and, to facilitate the initiation and conduct of coordinated enforcement action and, complement other international enforcement coordination mechanisms.
The conference focused on the challenge to privacy posed by 'the appification of society' and saw the signing of a new declaration – the Warsaw Declaration – outlining the challenges data protection and privacy commissioners face from the rise in mobile applications (apps) and identifying possible solutions.

The conference reaffirmed the importance that even the security services must operate within an appropriate framework of legal and democratic oversight. Next year's global enforcement event will take place in Manchester next April.