Albania has recently signed the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (CETS No. 205), and the Protocol amending the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (CETS No. 223).

The first document is the first binding international legal instrument to recognise a general right of access to official documents held by public authorities. Transparency of public authorities is a key feature of good governance and an indicator of whether or not a society is genuinely democratic and pluralist. The right of access to official documents is also essential to the self-development of people and to the exercise of fundamental human rights. It also strengthens public authorities’ legitimacy in the eyes of the public, and its confidence in them.

The Convention sets forth the minimum standards to be applied in the processing of requests for access to official documents (forms of and charges for access to official documents), review procedure and complementary measures and it has the flexibility required to allow national laws to build on this foundation and provide even greater access to official documents.

The second document aims to modernise and improve the Convention (ETS No. 108), taking into account the new challenges to the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data which have emerged since the Convention was adopted in 1980.

The modernisation of the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, the only existing legally binding international treaty with global relevance in this field, addresses the challenges to privacy resulting from the use of new information and communication technologies, and strengthens the convention’s mechanism to ensure its effective implementation.

The Protocol provides a robust and flexible multilateral legal framework to facilitate the flow of data across borders while providing effective safeguards when personal data are being used.

Some of the innovations contained in the Protocol are the following:

• Extension of the types of sensitive data, which will now include genetic and biometric data, trade union membership and ethnic origin;
• Obligation to declare data breaches;
• Greater transparency of data processing;
• New rights for the persons in an algorithmic decision making context, which are particularly relevant in connection with the development of artificial intelligence;
• Stronger accountability of data controllers;
• Requirement that the “privacy by design” principle is applied;
• Application of the data protection principles to all processing activities, including for national security reasons, with possible exceptions and restrictions subject to the conditions set by the Convention, and in any case with independent and effective review and supervision;
• Clear regime of transborder data flows;
• Reinforced powers and independence of the data protection authorities and enhancing legal basis for international cooperation.