European Union – 2021
Overview: 2020 was a challenging year, a year none of us were expecting.
The pandemic has not only dramatically changed the way we live and work; it has also brought at the centre of public debate the role and nature of our fundamental rights, including the rights to privacy and data protection.
With the pandemic came a new reality. From the perspective of a data protection authority, it was first and foremost a test. It was a challenge to ensure compliance in the ever growing digitalised world and to provide timely advice to authorities, controllers and citizens on the data protection aspects of measures taken due to the pandemic.
The EDPS answered promptly to this task, having established an internal COVID-19 taskforce, composed of members of all the EDPS’ units and sectors, to coordinate and proactively undertake actions related to the interplay between privacy and the pandemic. Believing in the EDPS’ specific role in the EU institutional landscape, we called for a pan-European approach to combat the virus, in particular in the context of contact tracing apps.
With the teleworking regime, the EDPS had to adjust its approach when it came to carrying out its core activities.
We took this as an opportunity to engage in an even closer dialogue with stakeholders, including public authorities, civil society and academia. We continued to be active in the field of investigations. Among others, we concluded the inquiry into the use of large datasets by Europol and we issued our findings and recommendations following an investigation into EUIs’ use of Microsoft products and services, which we presented at the second meeting of the Hague Forum.
