4rd DATA PROTECTION DAY 28 JANUARY 2010
	An initiative of the Council of Europe with the support of the European Commission
Data protection issues are central in citizens’ lives: at work, in their relations with public authorities, in the health field, when they travel or surf the internet. The right to data protection is also the prerequisite for the exercise of other fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of speech or conscience. Therefore, in 2007, for the first time, the Council of Europe celebrated the Data Protection Day on 28 January. This was the occasion for European citizens to become more aware of personal data protection and of what their rights and responsibilities are in that regard.
MORE…	WHY ?	FOR WHOM ?
Statement of the Council of Europe’s Secretary General at the 2009 Data Protection Day edition Contacts : "Data Protection" Unit Council of Europe’s information offices “Think privacy” – DPD 2010 Competition organised for young people between 15 and 19 to celebrate “Data Protection Day”. For more details, click here. Useful links: EU Commission – Independent Data Protection Working Party National laws Data protection Authorities in member States	Data protection issues, including their cross-border dimension, are for ever present in citizens’ lives – at work, in their relations with public authorities, in the health field, when they buy goods or services, when they travel or surf the internet. Nevertheless, it is a well-known fact that European citizens are generally unfamiliar with data protection issues and unaware of their rights in this respect. Moreover, data protection does not usually feature in the curricula of schools and universities. On the Data Protection Day, events should be organised all over Europe to raise awareness on data protection and inform citizens of their rights and of good practices, thereby enabling them to exercise these rights more effectively. The Data Protection Day should be a special occasion, a time set aside by each and every one of us to familiarise ourselves with a largely unknown, yet major, facet of our everyday lives.	The aim of the Data Protection Day is to give European citizens the chance to understand what personal data is collected and processed about them and why, and what their rights are with respect to this processing. They should also be made aware of the risks inherent and associated with the illegal mishandling and unfair processing of their personal data. The objective of the Data Protection Day is therefore to inform and educate the public at large as to their day-to-day rights, but it may also provide data protection professionals with the opportunity of meeting data subjects.
2009	WHO MAY PARTICIPATE?	2008
ACTIVITIES ORGANISED IN IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DATA PROTECTION DAY		ACTIVITIES ORGANISED IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE DATA PROTECTION DAY
2009 Participation form Organisational charter 2009 Events by country or organisation (click on the flag or Logo) Albania Andorra Austria Belgium Canada Croatia Denmark Estonia Finland Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Liechstenstein Lithuania Luxembourg The Netherlands Malta Mexico Moldova Norway Poland Slovak republic Spain Sweden Switzerland "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” United Kingdom European Commission North America	Each interested member state, national or international body, on a voluntary basis. The Data Protection Day is intended to be organised a flexible and decentralised manner so as to cater for the wishes and resources of each participant. Interested states or bodies may determine the type of activity they wish to organise. To this end, they may wish to take into account any data protection raising-awareness strategy that they may have at national level. The Council of Europe has no specific budget for this activity. Therefore, each State and/or interested body has to finance on its own budget any activity it wishes to organise within the framework of this Day. However, in view of the fact that most data protection supervisory authorities and some public or private sector parties already organise awareness-raising activities, participation in the Data Protection Day would not necessarily entail an additional financial burden. It would be more a matter of including the 28th of January when planning events in the framework of a State and/or interested body’s awareness-raising strategy. If you are interested in participating in 2009, please fill in this form Participation form and send it to mailbox Data.Protection@coe.int Suggested activities which could be organised by states and/or interested national or international bodies	2008 Events by country (click on the flag) Albania Andorra Austria Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Ireland Italy Latvia Liechstenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta The Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovak Republic Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” United Kingdom North America EDPS – CEPD