Dear Colleagues
Progress in 2018
2018 has been a pivotal year for the ICDPPC community, both in terms of determining our own identity and way forward, and in establishing our place on the international stage, with data protection at the heart of so many policy debates.
The fantastic annual meeting in October, so ably co-hosted by EDPS and Bulgaria, has set us on a productive path forward. May I once again pay tribute to Giovanni Buttarelli and Ventsislav Karadjov and their teams for the enriching and stimulating discussions as well as their generous hospitality.
We now have a Roadmap to guide the development of the ICDPPC from an annual meeting to a visible and vocal body that can engage effectively with the policy issues of the day. This is thanks to the excellent work led by our French and Canadian colleagues and the contributions from across the membership. The Declaration on Ethics and Data Protection in Artificial Intelligence (AI), setting out our guiding principles and our joint call for common governance principles, was a significant achievement. We must continue to build on this.
Looking Forward
There is much work to do to realise the ICDPPC community’s vision and ambition. The new Executive Committee has already had two (virtual) meetings in the last 2 months to map out priorities for the year ahead and how we will help to deliver them. These include:
- formulating a 2019 – 2021 strategic plan, for adoption at the next annual meeting in Albania, underpinned by a clear set of policy priorities, issues and themes, to inform the ICDPPC’s work and our outreach to other organisations and to civil society;
- developing a communications plan to support these policy priorities; and
- strengthening the ICDPPC’s role in capacity building for its members, for which we have heard a clear demand, particularly from newer members.
I am delighted that we have such a diverse ExCo membership, and am grateful to dedicated colleagues for being willing to join our meetings at the crack of dawn or at midnight to bridge the time zone differences.
Our Working Groups will continue to play a crucial role in generating ideas and supporting implementation of the commitments we all made in Brussels. Diverse representation will be important here too. If you are interested in joining one of them, including the new WG on Ethics and Data Protection in Artificial Intelligence (AI), please contact the Secretariat (excosecretariat@icdppc.org) or the relevant Chair.
We are also looking for volunteers for the network of translating members to assist the Secretariat in translating key documents; this is important to help maximise the impact of our resolutions and declarations. Please contact the Secretariat if you can help. We will focus on English, French and Spanish initially but all offers welcome.
I am honoured that you have placed your trust in me, as Chair of the Executive Committee, to steer our work at this critical juncture. I look forward very much to working with you all to make a reality of the vision we have jointly articulated.
Elizabeth Denham
Chair of the ICDPPC Executive Committee