Ufficio Trattati

This Convention is the first binding international instrument which protects the individual against abuses which may accompany the collection and processing of personal data and which seeks to regulate at the same time the transfrontier flow of personal data.

In addition to providing guarantees in relation to the collection and processing of personal data, it outlaws the processing of "sensitive" data on a person's race, politics, health, religion, sexual life, criminal record, etc., in the absence of proper legal safeguards. The Convention also enshrines the individual's right to know that information is stored on him or her and, if necessary, to have it corrected.

Restriction on the rights laid down in the Convention are only possible when overriding interests (e.g. State security, defence, etc.) are at stake.

The Convention also imposes some restrictions on transborder flows of personal data to States where legal regulation does not provide equivalent protection.

• Consolidated text of the Convention as it will be amended by the Protocol CETS No. 223 upon its entry into force.
• “The modernised Convention 108: novelties in a nutshell”
• 1999 Amendments.
• Translations sorted by non-official languages.
• Note for information - Accession to the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data by a State which is not a member of the Council of Europe.

• Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law - Data Protection
• Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law - European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ)