From 25th to 29th of September 2017, Hong Kong is hosting one of the most influential global forums in the area of data protection – the International conference of data protection and privacy commissioners. The Conference is an annual event which has both open and closed-door sessions. Delegates from all around the world take part – data protection authorities, non-governmental organizations, representatives of the education and business spheres.
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Representatives of the Bulgarian data protection authority are the Chairman Ventsislav Karadjov, the member of CPDP’s board Tsvetelin Sofroniev, and the Secretary General Desislava Toshkova.
The closed-door meetings take place in the beginning of the Conference. This year, the central theme for those sessions is “Governmentinformationsharing: Protectingsensitivedata, preventingdiscriminationandmanagingrisk”. 4 panels will discuss the power-houses and obstacles to information sharing, the role of governmental bodies, and the public concern with respect to discrimination and sensitive data protection. Closed-door sessions anticipate reports from working groups, to adopt resolutions, discourse regarding the future of the Conference and the election of an Executive Committee. The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to privacy will do a presentation on “Problems and developments in the global data protection process” as well.
On 28th and 29th of September the open-door meetings will take place. Four key topics will be covered: “Data Protection in Asia”, “Notice and Consent”, “Cross-border Data Transfer” and “Challenges of New Technology”.
The Data Protection in Asia topic will be debated on by lecturers from a number of Asian data protection authorities. They will underline the characteristics of the data protection and privacy culture in their own countries. Hence, the meetings will discuss the differences between the data protection and privacy culture of the East and West, the changes in societal views on privacy, and the relevance of the Western models of data protection to the Asian world and other parts of the globe.
The Notice and Consent topic will examine the request and receipt of consent as a cornerstone for building trust on which the information society is based. The question whether there is room for a new approach to achieving trust in online economics and better data protection will also be explored.
The Cross-border Data Transfer topic will consider the current state of the global regulatory frame. One of the focal points of the discussion will be linked to the data transfer mechanisms in accordance with the EU legislation and the European Commission’s joint efforts with Japan and South Korea to expand the privacy and data protection framework, as well as with commercial partners in Latin America and European neighbors.
In Challenges of New Technology, the center of attention will be ethical faces of artificial intelligence, the strategies and priorities when regulating results in digital economics, the impact of cybersecurity on data protection, the role of encryption in the digital era, and the management of digital identity.
As usual, parallel to the main sessions of the Conference, a number of accompanying events will also take place.
As it was already announced, the 2018 International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners will be jointly hosted by the Republic of Bulgaria Commission for Personal Data Protection (CPDP) and by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). In relation to that, during the final day of this year’s conference, the Chairman of CPDP – Ventsislav Karadjov, and EDPS – Giovanni Buttarelli, will present the main topics and events provided for the upcoming conference, which will take place simultaneously in Brussels and Sofia in 2018.
