In 2006 and in the light of technological progress and automatic processing of personal data, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe agreed to establish an international strategy to raise awareness on the importance of privacy and data protection. The Data Protection Day was the outcome of those efforts. This day is now celebrated worldwide each 28 January, under the name “Data Privacy Day” beyond European borders.

This project evokes the signature of the Council of Europe Data Protection Convention (known as Convention 108) of January 1981, at that time the first legally binding international treaty in the data protection field. Since its foundation, Convention 108 has remained the only effort to actually frame and communicate the fundamental principles of data processing and the right to privacy for almost ten years.

Despite its title, the Council of Europe is not exclusive to European Union member states. Reaching far beyond the EU, this is an international organization with more than 50 member states as diverse as, by way of illustration, Argentina, Denmark, Morocco, and Portugal. All these countries are committed to applying the essential measures in their legislation in maximum compliance with the individual civil rights on the subject of personal data processing.

From day one, this groundbreaking annual celebration has been promoting events and activities throughout organisations, governments, authorities, companies, and other institutions as a means of raising awareness about the best practices and the importance of data protection. At first, this initiative looked closely at businesses and overall users. But over time, its attention was drawn to an educational perspective to families, consumers, and organisations. The central goal of this day is to empower and inform individuals and companies about their rights.

A much needed update

With the rapid development of technology in every sector over the last few years, organizations and people had no other alternative than to embrace it. Our lives have been rewired for the digital age. As data breaches and cybercrime are on the rise, data protection and cyber security are more significant now than ever before.

​In 2018, the participants in the 108 Convention came to an agreement on the urgency to revise it. The result? A renovated version: Convention 108+. In that same year, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force: “the toughest privacy and security law in the world”. GDPR was a real game changer in our understanding of data privacy, security, and individual rights.

From a personal business perspective, PrimeIT is fully committed to this mission. As an IT consulting company, we’ve been enabling our clients to implement IT solutions that support and comply with the best privacy and data protection practices. For many years, our partners from every sector and country we operate in have been following strong strategies that reinforce their core business, and simultaneously protect their personal information and prevent cybercrime.