The 21st Meeting of the Central and Eastern Europe Data Protection Authorities (CEEDPA) was held on December 16-17, 2021. The host of this year's event was the Polish supervisory authority – the Personal Data Protection Office.
Among the participants of the meeting, which was organized online, there were commissioners and representatives of the data protection authorities from the CEEDPA member states, both from the European Union and outside EU.
During the two-day conference, participants primarily discussed their current achievements and further challenges posed to data protection authorities by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, they had the opportunity to share experiences and best practices during discussions on key aspects of personal data protection. The programmeof the event was divided into four thematic sessions.
The subject of the panel discussions on the first day of the meeting was the issue of accountability mechanisms. Participants also discussed how to protect personal data and privacy in a world affected by the coronavirus pandemic – now and in the future.
During the second day, the authorities discussed the implementation of European Union and Council of Europe data protection standards and the potential cross-border challenges involved.
In addition, key issues and challenges in ensuring the protection of children's personal data were an important topic.
Discussions during both days of the meeting allowed the participants to share the current practice of their authorities, as well as to present plans and challenges for the next years in the field of personal data protection.
The event was complemented by a video, created in cooperation with the representatives of data protection authorities, promoting both the 21st Meeting of the CEEDPA Group and the overall cooperation.
The choice of the Personal Data Protection Office as the host of the Meeting and the date of the conference was not accidental. This year CEEDPA celebrates its twentieth anniversary. At the end of 2001, the Inspector General for the Personal Data Protection (GIODO) initiated international cooperation between personal data protection authorities from Central and Eastern Europe to support the development of privacy protection in that area. During the meeting organised by GIODO on December 17, 2001, the Final Declaration was signed, in which the representatives of data protection authorities from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland declared their will to cooperate and provide mutual help within the scope necessary to ensure adequate protection of personal data in their countries.
The meetings of the Central and Eastern Europe Data Protection Authorities, which aim is supporting the EU candidate countries as well as the new members, sharing information and experiences, raising the level of awareness of the importance of personal data protection, and – most importantly – further harmonization of the national legislation with the European Union law, took the form of cyclic conferences organized in individual countries and ongoing cooperation depending on the current needs.
More information about the Central and Eastern Europe Data Protection Authorities is available here.
Below we present the program of the December event.