Data protection is non-negotiable in international trade agreements
The rules for data protection in the EU institutions, as well as the
duties of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), are set out
in Regulation (EU) 2018/1725.
Processing of personal data:
according to Article 3(3) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725, processing of
personal data refers to “any operation or set of operations which is
performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not
by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation,
structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval,
consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or
otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction,
erasure or destruction”. See the glossary on the EDPS website.
“EU horizontal provisions on Cross-border data flows and
protection of personal data and privacy in the Digital Trade Title of
EU trade agreements”: endorsed by the European Commission in 2018,
these horizontal provisions allow the EU to include measures to
facilitate cross-border data flows in trade agreements while fully
preserving individuals’ fundamental rights to data protection and
privacy. The horizontal provisions reach a balanced compromise between
public and private interests as they allow the EU to tackle
protectionist practices in third countries in relation to digital
trade while ensuring that trade agreements cannot be used to challenge
the high level of protection guaranteed by the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights and the EU legislation on the protection of
personal data.
The legislative consultation powers of the
EDPS are laid down in Article 42 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 which
obliges the European Commission to consult the EDPS on all legislative
proposals and international agreements that might have an impact on
the processing of personal data. Such an obligation also applies to
draft implementing and delegated acts. The statutory deadline for
issuing an EDPS opinion is 8 weeks.
The EDPS opinions are
published on our website, and later on, in the Official Journal of the
EU, and officially transmitted to the European Parliament, the Council
and the Commission.
The EDPS also has the power to issue
opinions on any issue of relevance to the protection of personal data,
addressed to the EU legislator or to the general public, in response
to a consultation by another institution or on his own initiative.