The world's richest states have adopted a "historic" agreement in the Canary Islands to safeguard privacy in accessing personal data held by private sector entities, which involves establishing limits on access to them as well as setting up mechanisms for reparation, and even compensation, in case of damages.
The agreement is "historic", as it is the first adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in this matter and represents an important political commitment by the 38 countries that comprise it. This is how the secretary general of this organization, Mathias Cormann, defined it at the last session of the OECD Ministerial Conference held in Maspalomas, where this declaration was signed.
In this agreement, the aim has been to reinforce trust between countries when transferring data, aware that these are fundamental for the digital transformation of the world economy and that their use must be done safeguarding the rights and freedoms of individuals.
In this declaration, a series of principles -seven in total- have been established, which include that governments' access to data has legitimate purposes and that they should "never" be used to repress or undermine criticism or to disadvantage certain groups based on characteristics such as age, disability, sexual orientation, or political or religious affiliation, among others.
The obligation to have a clear and transparent legal framework, which includes limits such as data being used by authorized personnel; that effective supervision mechanisms are established to guarantee due use of these, as well as establishing mechanisms for reparation in case of damages are some of the points of this declaration.
The agreement contemplates an effective reparation in case the national legal framework has been violated and that contemplates the cancellation of access to the data, eliminating the retained data or those that have been accessed unduly and compensations for the damages suffered.
Experts from various countries worked for two years on the draft
This declaration is the result of an "arduous" work of two years, said the secretary of the OECD: "It may seem something of a technical nature but the access of governments to personal data is one of the hottest points for countries".
The declaration has been prepared by a group of experts from various countries in the field of data protection, national security and public order.
The project arose from the growing concern about the lack of common principles in sensitive areas such as national security and public order, a lack that could lead to undue restrictions on data flows.
The declaration complements the OECD Guidelines on Privacy, which were last updated in 2013 and which constitute one of the most important achievements of the Organization, dating back to 1980 and which form the basis of privacy standards in many countries.
