ILA Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy in Private International and Procedural Law (‘Lisbon Guidelines on Privacy’) and Commentary Thereto

Abstract

On 23 June 2022, the Lisbon Guidelines on Privacy, drawn up by the ILA Committee on the Protection of Privacy in Private International and Procedural Law, were formally endorsed by the International Law Association at the 80th ILA Biennial Conference. As evidenced by the accompanying Commentary, the Committee focused on the promotion of international co-operation and the contribution to predictability on issues of jurisdiction, applicable law, and circulation of judgments in privacy (including defamation) matters, taking into account, i.a., questions of fundamental rights. In this framework, the investigation delved also into the questions arising from the interface of privacy with personal data protection. Furthermore, it encompassed emerging phenomena such as Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (‘SLAPP’).

As expounded in the Commentary, the Lisbon Guidelines on Privacy are premised on two fundamental principles: notably, (i) foreseeability of jurisdiction, and (ii) parallelism between jurisdiction and applicable law. They are accompanied by a detailed Article-by-Article Commentary, which provides a comprehensive analysis of the Guidelines, complemented by examples, including illustrations taken from copious national, regional and supranational jurisprudence.

Keywords: Jurisdiction, applicable law, circulation of judgments, privacy, defamation, freedom of expression and of the press, SLAPP