In continuation of the support provided by the Council of Europe to the Gambian authorities in harmonising the data protection legal framework with the international standards and best practices, a validation workshop was organised on 22 February by the Council of Europe through the GLACY+ project and the Data Protection Unit.

Representatives from governmental bodies, ministries, public and private sector and civil society of the Gambia discussed with the Council of Europe’s experts the recommendations and conclusions of a desk analysis on options to set up a Data Protection and Privacy Agency as a stand-alone body or of a body merged with the Access to Information Commission, as well as examples of models of setting up and functioning of authorities from various countries. Besides existing models, the desk study draws on provisions of international data protection standards, i.e. the European Union GDPR and Convention 108+.

The workshop was part of the long-term support for the Gambian authorities in the legislative process on data protection since 2019 by the Council of Europe, which is yet another evidence of the global relevance of Convention 108+ around the world. It is envisaged that the data protection bill will be tabled with the Parliament in March 2022 for its adoption.