EPIC - Article 29 Working Party

Article 29 Working Party

Introduction |
Tasks |
Membership |
Opinions |
Recommendations |
Consultations |
Annual Reports |
Resources

Introduction

The Working Party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data, generally known as Article 29 Working Party (WP29), is the independent European Union Advisory Body on Data Protection and Privacy, composed of representatives from each of the EU Member States, the European Data Protection Supervisor, and the representative of the European Commission.

The WP29 was established by Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data. Its tasks are laid down in Article 30 of above-mentioned Directive and Article 15 of the Directive 2002/58/EC on privacy and electronic communications (e-Privacy Directive).

The Chairman of the working party is Ms. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, President of the Commission Nationale de L’informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France. The Vice-Chairmen of the WP29 are Mr. Ventsislav Karadjov and Mr. Antonello Soro.

The WP's website offers a list of Opinions and recommendations, Letters, Press releases, Annual reports, Plenary agendas, Public consultations, Binding Corporate rules, and the Structure of the WP.

Tasks

The WP29 tasks are:

Examine any question covering the application of the national measures adopted under the Directive in order to contribute to the uniform application of such measures;
Give the Commission an opinion on the level of protection in the Community and in third countries;
Advise the Commission on any proposed amendment of the Directive, on any additional or specific measures to safeguard the rights and freedoms of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on any other proposed Community measures affecting such rights and freedoms;
Give an opinion on codes of conducts drawn up at Community level;

The Working Party can make, on its own initiative, recommendations on all matters relating to privacy and data protection in the European Community. The WP29 has conducted online consultations on data protection issues related to intellectual property rights, RFID, video surveillance, binding corporate rules, electronic health records and most recently on the protection of children's personal data. It has issued several opinions on issues such as the transfer of travelers’ personal name record information to the US, the introduction of biometrics into passports and visas, the transfer of financial information to the US, the introduction of EU-wide data retention requirements, the protection of children’s personal data, a draft Commission decision on standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to processors established in third countries, under Directive 95/46/EC and on the proposals amending e-Privacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC).

The WP29´s opinions and recommendations are forwarded to the European Commission and to the committee created to assist the European Commission Article 31 of the Directive 95/46/EC. The European Commission shall inform the WP29 of the action it has taken in response to its opinions and recommendations through a public report. That report is also forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council. The WP29 is also in charge of issuing an annual report in which it highlights data protection developments across the EU and within each EU and European Economic Area country. This annual report is also transmitted to the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council.

According to the General Data Protection Regulation the European Data Protection Board will replace the Working Party.

Membership

The WP29 is composed of a representative of the supervisory authority or authorities designated by each Member State, a representative of the European Data Protection Supervisor and a representative of the European Commission. The WP29 elect a Chair and a Vice-Chair for a period of two years and renewable only once. The actual Chairman of the working party is Ms. Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, President of the Commission Nationale de L’informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), France. The Vice-Chairmen of the WP29 are Mr. Ventsislav Karadjov and Mr. Antonello Soro.

The Secretariat is provided by Directorate C (Civil Justice, Rights and Citizenship) of the European Commission, Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security.

Opinions

On October 4, 2017, the WP29 issued the Opinion 03/2017 on processing personal data in the context of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS)

On June 8, 2017, the WP29 issued the Opinion 2/2017 on data processing at work

On April 4, 2017, the WP29 issued the Opinion 01/2017 on the Proposed Regulation for the ePrivacy Regulation (2002/58/EC)

On October 31, 2016, the WP29 issued the Opinion 04/2016 on the Consequences of the Schrems Judgment on European Commission amendments proposals related to the powers of Data Protection Authorities in Standard Contractual Clauses and adequacy decisions

On July 19, 2016, the WP29 issued the Opinion 03/2016 on the evaluation and review of the ePrivacy Directive

On June 8, 2016, the WP29 issued the Opinion 02/2016 on the publication of Personal Data for Transparency purposes in the Public Sector

On April 13, 2016, the WP29 issued the Opinion 01/2016 on the EU - U.S. Privacy Shield draft adequacy decision

On December 16, 2015, the WP29 issued the Update of Opinion 8/2010 on applicable law in light of the CJEU judgement in Google Spain

On December 1, 2015, the WP29 issued the Opinion 03/2015on the draft directive on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and the free movement of such data

On September 22, 2015, the WP29 issued the Opinion 02/2015on C-SIG Code of Conduct on Cloud Computing

On June 16, 2015, the WP29 issued the Opinion 01/2015 on Privacy and Data Protection Issues relating to the Utilization of Drones.

Selected Statements, Papers, & Guidelines

On November 28, 2017, the WP29 issued the Report EU - U.S. Privacy Shield - First annual Joint Review
On October 24, 2017, the WP29 issued a Letter to WhatsApp on the Facebook-WhatsApp Merger
On April 10, 2017, the WP29 issued a Letter to the ODNI concerning allegations of Yahoo e-mail scanning
On April 5, 2017, the WP29 issued revised Guidelines Guidelines on the right to data portability
On April 13, 2016, the WP29 issued the Working Document 01/2016 on the justification of interferences with the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection through surveillance measures when transferring personal data (European Essential Guarantees)
On April 13, 2016, the WP29 issued the Working Document 01/2016 on the justification of interferences with the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection through surveillance measures when transferring personal data (European Essential Guarantees)
On April 13, 2016, the WP29 issued the Working Document 01/2016 on the justification of interferences with the fundamental rights to privacy and data protection through surveillance measures when transferring personal data (European Essential Guarantees)
On February 2, 2016, the WP29 issued the Statement on the 2016 action plan for the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
On February 3, 2016, the WP29 issued the Statement on the Consequences of the Schrems Judgment
On October 16, 2015, the WP29 issued the Statement on the implementation of the judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 6 October 2015 in the Maximilian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner case (C-362-14)
On December 5, 2014, the WP29 issued the Working Document on surveillance of electronic communications for intelligence and national security purposes