Renewing Convention 108: The CoE's 'GDPR Lite' Initiatives

Abstract

In June 2016 the Council of Europe held two significant back-to-back conferences to further develop data protection Convention 108: the CAHDATA Conference (15-16 June) of state Parties to finalise the 'Modernisation' of the Convention; and the 'Globalisation' Conference (17 June) to encourage the expansion of the Convention’s membership outside Europe. This article explains their significance, and how both initiatives inter-connect with the EU's finalisation of its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

By comparing the changes in the GDPR (from the Directive) with the changes in the 'Modernised' Convention (from the existing 108), I conclude that the modernised Convention will have considerably stronger requirements than the existing Convention, but these will still be far more general and modest than the GDPR's requirements. Convention 108 will be 'GDPR Lite'. As such, accession to it is likely to be attractive to countries outside Europe, for a variety of reasons.

The progress in 'Globalisation' of Convention 108 is then outlined. and arguments presented as to why the potential for greater 'globalisation' is clear. However, a need to improve transparency in the accession processes is also identified.

Keywords: data protection, data privacy, Council of Europe, Convention 108, EU, General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR, CAHDATA