Spain ratifies Protocol of Council of Europe to help strengthen privacy and personal data protection

Spain's ratification of the amendment Protocol coincides with the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention, which took place on this day in 1981, and completes our country's commitment to this protection system and its modernisation.

By ratifying this Protocol, Spain also continues developing the conventional framework of the Council of Europe in accordance with the commitment to this benchmark organisation on human rights on our continent.

This 1981 Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (Convention number 108 of the Council of Europe) is particularly important since it is a binding multilateral instrument on the protection of personal data, which seeks to become an international standard on privacy in the digital era.

Against the current backdrop of the pandemic, the Data Protection Convention takes on even more importance, since it establishes a series of standards and legal and technical safeguards that allow the implicit risks involved in managing the pandemic to be mitigated.

The Council of Europe promoted the 2018 amendment Protocol with a view to the growing need to guarantee the protection of individuals regarding personal data processing, and in a more general manner to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. Spain has played an active role in the development of this Protocol.

This 2018 amendment Protocol (Council of Europe Convention number 223), ratified by Spain on Thursday, adapts the 1981 Convention to the new realities in an increasingly more interconnected world and strengthens its implementation, while increasing the degree of protection offered by the Convention to personal data.

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