Working Party on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data (hereinafter referred to as "the Working Party") has been established on a basis of Article 29 of the Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data as an independent entity having an advisory status. On 25 May 2018 the Working Party was replaced by the European Data Protection Board.
The Working Party was composed of representatives of the supervisory authority or authorities designated by each Member State and of a representative of the authority or authorities established for the Community institutions and bodies, and of a representative of the Commission. Each member of the Working Party was designated by the institution, authority or authorities which he represented. If a Member State designated more than one supervisory authority, they nominated a joint representative to attend the meeting of the Working Party. The same rule applies to the authorities established for Community institutions and bodies. Poland was represented in the Working Party by the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection.
The tasks of the Working Party comprised:
- examination of questions covering the application of the national measures adopted under this Directive in order to contribute to the uniform application of such measures;
- giving the Commission an opinion on the level of protection in the Community and in third countries;
- advising the Commission on any proposed amendment of this 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;
- giving an opinion on codes of conduct drawn up at Community level.
- informing the Commission on finding that divergences likely to affect the equivalence of protection for persons with regard to the processing of personal data in the Community are arising between the laws or practices of Member States;
- making, on its own initiative, recommendations on all matters relating to the protection of persons with regard to the processing of personal data in the Community;
- drawing up an annual report on the situation regarding the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data in the Community and in third countries; the report shall be transmitted to the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council and made public.
The Working Party's opinions and recommendations were forwarded to the Commission and to the committee established on the basis of Article 31 of the Directive 95/46/EC. Simultaneously, it needs to be stressed that the Commission was obliged to inform the Working Party by the way of a report which had to be made public and be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council of the action it has taken in response to its opinions and recommendations.
More information about the Working Party and protection of personal data in European Union can be found at the following website: (http://europa.eu.int).
