European Data Protection Supervisor's Annual Report

The European Data Protection Supervisor's Annual Report 2006 has been published. For those who do not want to read the full report, Out-Law.com provides a summary:

The number of complaints to the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) almost doubled in 2006, but only 20% were valid complaints for the privacy watchdog of the EU institutions, its annual report has said. The number of complaints remained small, rising from 27 in 2005 to 52 in 2006. All but 10 of the complaints should have been directed to national data protection authorities and not the European Supervisor. In 2005 all but five of the complaints were similarly misdirected. The EDPS is still a new body, having only been formed in 2004. It increased in size last year from having 19 staff to having 24, and its budget increased from €3 million to €4m. "A large majority of the complaints received continued to fall outside of the supervisory competences of the EDPS, for instance because they dealt exclusively with processing of personal data on the level of the member states, where national Data Protection Authorities are competent," said the report. The report revealed that the body is conducting an audit of Eurodac, the database of fingerprints of illegal immigrants and applicants for asylum. The in-depth security audit is due to report by the middle of this year, the EDPS said. The report acknowledged that the EDPS still has not managed to make data protection an automatic part of working life for EU bodies. "[One challenge] is the implementation of data protection rules and principles in the whole EU administration and to develop a data protection culture as part of good governance," said the report..

See also:

• European Data Protection Supervisor Annual Report