Category Archives: Other

The 2020 Census is open from the 1st December 2020 – 12th February 2021, and we look forward to your responses. The link to complete the Census has been provided to the membership for completion, if you have any queries please contact the secretariat@globalprivacyassembly.org.

The Global Privacy Assembly Census is designed to give a detailed ‘snapshot’ of privacy and data protection authorities across the globe, as well as contributing to the aims of the Resolution on developing new metrics of data protection regulation which include to:

• Develop internationally comparable metrics in relation to data protection and privacy; and
• Support the efforts of other international partners to make progress in this area.

This is the second time we have run a census in our membership, the last one taking place in 2017. We plan on presenting the full results at the latest at the 2021 annual global conference next October and several Working Groups will be invited to contribute to the analysis.

The text of the survey form used in the 2020 census (in PDF form) is available in English, Spanish and French.

The Census Privacy statement can be found here.

Information on the 2017 Census can be found here.

The 42nd Global Privacy Assembly Closed Session took place virtually on 13-15 October, with more than 100 members and observers joining together to consider key data protection and privacy challenges.

Opening the session, Elizabeth Denham, GPA Chair and UK Information Commissioner, highlighted the value of the Global Privacy Assembly’s work in raising data protection and privacy standards around the world through regulatory co-operation, and how the GPA work continued despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms Denham said: “It is important that the GPA continues to modernise. It is important we continue to find ways to collaborate, so our collective wisdom can help us take better action individually. We are outward looking and have found new ways to connect with the outside world – from partnering with key international organisations such as OECD to engaging with tech companies on data protection by design. Our approach to engagement is modern and dynamic, making new ground this year.”

That theme ran through the three-day conference.

Resolutions were discussed and agreed, giving a shared view on topics including:

• Facial recognition technology, recognising the importance of acting now, with a commitment to finding a common GPA position on a technology that can be privacy intrusive and discriminatory;
• Artificial Intelligence (AI), where GPA members are encouraged to work with organisations in their jurisdictions that develop or use AI systems to implement accountability measures; and
• Humanitarian aid, where the group committed to a renewed focus on safeguards to protect personal data in this area of international activity.

Resolutions were also agreed on the GPA’s voice – a modernisation of the rules and procedures that will allow the GPA to work as a ‘year-round’ organisation and make statements at the right time, and with greater impact. Commissioner Angelene Falk, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), introduced the resolution noting this “initiative is another way in which the GPA is pivoting to ensure that we are actively engaging on issues in a pragmatic and relevant way. It is the next step in our continued modernisation.”

The resolutions are published on the GPA website.

Commissioner Raymund Liboro, Philippines National Privacy Commission, led a detailed session on the work of the GPA COVID-19 Taskforce. Colleagues from PCPD Hong Kong, Dubai IFC, ICO (UK), and OAIC (Australia), updated members on shared best practices, capacity building activities, and common privacy risks and challenges during the pandemic. This included a Compendium of Best Practices in Response to COVID-19.

As the Chair of the Taskforce, Mr Liboro presented a resolution that proposed the creation of a temporary working group to continue the work of the Taskforce in building and strengthening the GPA’s collective capacity in responding to challenges arising from pandemic.

Mr Liboro said: “We have maximized the GPA’s voice and influence during this pandemic – this time when the world needed our guidance. In a short span of time, with all the other pressing matters that we had to deal with individually, in our own homes, our own organizations, our own jurisdictions, we found time to come together and collaborate with our GPA community.”

Commissioner Angelene Falk, OAIC and chair of the GPA Strategic Direction Sub-Committee, updated members on the progress on the GPA’s strategic plan and policy strategy. The GPA Working Groups, which make practical progress towards that strategy, shared their achievements and their plans for 2021.

Ms Denham extended her warm welcome to the following new GPA members and observer:

• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Bermuda, Bermuda
• Cayman Islands Ombudsman, Cayman Islands
• Data Protection Commissioner, Dubai International Financial Centre
• Canton of Bern: Data Protection Commissioner (Datenschutzbeauftragter des Kantons Bern), Switzerland
• European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) – Observer

The results of the GPA Executive Committee election were announced:

• Raymund Liboro, Privacy Commissioner and Chairman, Philippines National Privacy Commission, stood down having completed his full two-year term;
• Angelene Falk, Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, was re-elected for a further two years; and
• Ulrich Kelber, Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI), Federal Republic of Germany, was elected to the Executive Committee for a two-year term.

Closing the online conference, Ms Denham said: “We needed to hold this year’s closed session for two reasons. Firstly, we simply could not lose our momentum on important work. Secondly, we needed to hold this year’s closed session because our community has never been more important.

“The adoption of digital technologies and innovations has accelerated faster than any of us could have predicted. And with this acceleration comes an enormous appetite for personal data. As data protection and privacy authorities, we must respond. We must respond to this growth in data gathering, and more sophisticated data processing. We must respond to state use of data in response to the pandemic. And we must respond to changing attitudes to data. We do so best as a modern, collaborative community.”

For more information on the GPA’s main achievements this past year, see the Annual Report of the GPA Executive Committee 2019-2020.

Looking ahead, the 43rd Global Privacy Assembly will be hosted by the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection (INAI Mexico), and will take place in Mexico City on 18-22 October 2021.

More information available at globalprivacyassembly.org

Opening remarks from Elizabeth Denham CBE, GPA Chair and UK Information Commissioner, on Tuesday 13 October at the GPA Closed Session 2020 – At your desk.

Hello, and welcome to the 42^nd Global Privacy Assembly closed session.

It’s my privilege as chair to welcome you today, to what promises to be an exciting and engaging three days.

Our conference has come together annually for more than forty years. From Strasbourg to Sydney, from Marrakesh to Montreal, we’ve come together to share our expertise, our vision and our friendship.

And in 2020, in this strangest of years, we are holding our conference again.

And that’s so important.

Firstly, it means we can further the modernisation of our Assembly advanced in Tirana last year. This Assembly belongs to all of us. Today we will review the progress on our strategic plan and policy strategy, and discuss our plans for the coming year. Your voices and views are crucial.

Secondly, this conference allows us to collaborate. Tomorrow we will consider the impact COVID-19 has brought, and reflect on the pragmatic and considered response we have so far brought to the challenges of the pandemic.

And finally, this conference gives us an opportunity to speak as a community. On Thursday, we will consider the resolutions that set out where we stand, as a group and as a profession, on key issues. And we will elect those we wish to represent our community as members of our Executive Committee.

Continued modernisation. Collaboration. Community.

—

I look back on 2020 and I think ‘it would have been easy to push this Assembly’s work to one side’.

I don’t know about you but the phones in my office are ringing off the hook to respond to COVID-19. We were being asked to respond straight away and give our thoughts on contact tracing apps, immunity certificates and temperature testing.

It would have been easy to prioritise our domestic work, and postpone our GPA commitments for a year.

But that didn’t happen.

In fact, our Assembly has been busier than ever.

It feels like the GPA has really come to life over the past year, and is supporting members more than ever before.

What I am most proud of as chair is that we were ready for the challenge 2020 brought.

We have worked hard over the past few years: modernising the assembly, setting our strategic direction, and building our capacity.

And so we could respond to the challenges the pandemic brought.

—

I spoke last year about my ambition for an Assembly that can support one another year round.

The COVID-19 taskforce has shown we are that Assembly.

I want to thank Commissioner Chung, our colleague from Hong Kong for her team’s role in pulling together the Compendium of Best Practices,.

And I want to particularly highlight Raymond Liboro who took on the taskforce when he was so busy domestically. Thank you Raymund.

—

I want to talk about how we’ve engaged with those outside of our group.

I spoke last year about my ambition for an Assembly whose doors are open: open to new members, open to new ideas.

Our work with others this year showed me we are now that Assembly.

The GPA fails if it only engages members rather than influential organisations like governments, international bodies and those who represent business and consumers.

We brought big tech – Google and Apple – into our discussions on privacy design of their API.

And we worked alongside OECD on our COVID workshops. These events showed how we can work with others to influence the debate and guide governments, civil society, regulators and policymakers on key issues.

Thank you to everyone who helped organise the workshops, including the secretariat, my ICO colleague Steve Wood – who also has his OECD role, and Joe Cannataci, UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy, for his very thought provoking keynote.

—

It is clear that we meet at a time the likes of which none of us have experienced.

We have seen extraordinary times.

We’ve gone beyond a short-term crisis.

Data protection commissioners are being asked questions today that would have been unthinkable a year ago. About significant data collection. About a shifted relationship between state and citizen. About compromises on privacy that would have been previously unthinkable.

And none of this is going away.

The decisions our community makes now, shape the future.

And that includes the decisions we make to continue the evolution of our Assembly.

It is important that we continue to modernise.

It is important we continue to find ways to collaborate, so our collective wisdom can help us take better action individually.

And we must remember that our community has never been more important.

Continued modernisation. Collaboration. Community.

—

We move now to the business of the week.

I’m sure, like many of you, there’s a slight sense of sadness here.

We achieved so much last year in Tirana, but also wasn’t it fun? I’m going to miss the conversations in the coffee breaks and the opportunity to catch up with old friends. I’ll miss the hospitality of our hosts, and the fantastic awards ceremony. I’ll even miss the traditional dancing I enjoyed at the gala dinner, although I appreciate others might be grateful to not have to witness that again!

Such conferences will come again. I am really excited about 2021 in Mexico City, hosted by Francisco Javier Acuna Llamas and his fabulous team –  you will hear more about Mexico on Thursday.

But this year we are online, and bringing together more than a hundred member and observer authorities.

It’s incredible to think that this year, of all years, we have as many people in the virtual room today as we had in the conference room last year. That’s a similar number who came to Tirana last year.

You may be sitting at your kitchen table, in your child’s bedroom or at the office.

Wherever you are, you are welcome. Please get involved, intervene, ask questions. We really want to hear what you’ve got to say – we are a global Assembly, and all the better for the wealth of different voices we hear.

I would like to thank our interpreters and our colleagues who helped make this conference a multilingual event through the translation of the conference documents: gracias to our friends at INAI Mexico, and merci to our friends at the AFAPDP.

I have to mention the time difference. The nature of a global event is that there isn’t a time that suits all. And so I’m very grateful to my friends who are giving up their evening to join us. And I’m very grateful to my friends, where it is early morning, and where I hope there is plenty of strong coffee.

On that note, our sessions this week are shorter than usual, in line with the constraints we face with this type of digital event. With that in mind, I must insist everyone keeps to time on their allocated slots. My colleagues in the secretariat will be watching the clock closely, and making sure we keep to our published agenda.

—

And so to the agenda.

The agenda is structured into three days, with a key focus each day to ensure we make real progress.

Day one: we’ll hear a report back on the strategy we agreed in Tirana. And we’ll ensure our future plans are still clear.

Day two we’ll cover the biggest challenge we all face: COVID-19, and consider how to continue supporting one another.

And then day three is a day of decision making, including voting on resolutions to ensure we have a formally agree direction.

The September 2020 edition of the Global Privacy Assembly’s Newsletter is available now.

Get the latest insight and updates from our members and observers on the international data protection and privacy landscape.

View newsletter.

The Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) Executive Committee and the GPA Secretariat are delighted to announce the Global Privacy Assembly 2020 Closed Session – At Your Desk on Tuesday 13 October, Wednesday 14 October and Thursday 15 October 2020, from 11:00-14:00 (UK time) for GPA Members and Observers only.

A unique event this year, the Global Privacy Assembly will bring together the GPA members and observers online for the very first time to engage in rich debate and high-level decision-making, from the comfort of your own home/office. The event will consist of three separate three-hour online sessions from 11:00-14:00 (UK time) hosted by the GPA Secretariat at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) UK on the Microsoft Teams platform.

Our work involving both Members and Observers in shaping the Global Privacy Assembly this past year has been defining, and in these exceptional times, in a fast-paced environment, the GPA has played a positive role, demonstrating pragmaticism and enabling the critical sharing of information amongst the membership.

The Global Privacy Assembly 2020 Closed Session – At Your Desk will highlight the work of the GPA this year, have your say and get the latest information on the:

• GPA’s contribution to supporting our members with analysis of the most pressing priority policy matters at global level, and our progress against the GPA Strategic Direction;
• GPA’s impact in helping members to work with their governments to address the global COVID-19 pandemic, revealing the role and contribution of the GPA COVID-19 Taskforce; and
• Debate and influence the GPA’s core business, strengthening the GPA’s voice on the international arena.

For more information on the Closed Session and registration visit https://globalprivacyassembly.org/gpa2020

Please contact the GPA Secretariat if you have any queries: secretariat@globalprivacyassembly.org

Established in 1979, the GPA community has continued to grow ever since, currently comprising more than 100 member authorities across the globe.

Each year, the GPA welcomes new applications for data protection authorities wishing to join as members, as well as for other public entities and international organisations having an interest to become GPA observers.

The deadline for applying for GPA membership closed on 10 July 2020 and will re-open later this year.

If you wish to join the GPA community as an Observer, please complete the relevant application form. Applications for observer status will close on Sunday 9 August 2020, although prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their application at an early stage.

For any questions related to the GPA Accreditation process for membership and observer status please get in touch with the GPA Secretariat at secretariat@globalprivacyassembly.org

This article was published by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) on 25 August 2020.

By Jennifer Bryant at IAPP

While the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated using data to analyze and map its origins and spread, Philippines National Privacy Commissioner and Chairman Raymund Liboro said “our data subjects need us now more than ever.”

During the pandemic, data privacy professionals play an important role in protecting data, fostering privacy rights, and earning and maintaining the trust of those they serve, Liboro recently told fellow privacy commissioners, privacy officers in the corporate sector and members of the Global Privacy Assembly, a global forum for data protection and privacy authorities.

During a webinar hosted by the GPA in collaboration with the Centre for Information Policy Leadership, “Data Protection Reimagined: Digital Acceleration, New Emerging Issues and the Role of Privacy Regulators in the COVID-19 Era,” Liboro said, “We must let them know that we are their guide in all matters related to privacy and data protection. That we are here to guide them with the most relevant guidelines and best practices.”

Liboro is chair of the GPA’s COVID-19 Response Task Force, created by the GPA Executive Committee last spring as it recognized the similar challenges data protection and privacy authorities around the world are facing in addressing the crisis. The group has met every two weeks since May, working to “consolidate efforts, maximize voice, gather expertise, and assist GPA members and observers in addressing the emerging data privacy issues posed by the spread of the virus worldwide,” he said.

The task force comprises members from Europe, Asia, North America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, as well as international organizations serving as observers, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“What we hope to accomplish, the primary role of the task force, is to coordinate and help drive the GPA’s practical responses to the privacy challenges coming from COVID-19, inform positions on related topics, and enhance capacity and capability for the GPA privacy community,” Liboro said.

Privacy has never faced a challenge of such a global nature as COVID-19, he continued, with authorities and communities around the world tackling issues like collecting and sharing data among health authorities, government agencies and law enforcement, handling children’s data associated with online learning, privacy in the workplace and work-from-home environments.

“The pandemic has necessitated all of government, all of society’s response, and I personally believe as data protection authorities we also have to respond to this as a community,” Liboro said. “For data protection authorities, we are all bound in our responsibilities and we need to cooperate with one another to advance the goals of our own authority, but also link arms with the rest of the privacy community and really emphasize that data protection and privacy in the time of COVID-19 is tantamount to saving lives.”

As part of its work, the GPA COVID-19 Response Task Force launched the COVID-19 Response Repository, a website with the latest statements from authorities, resources, research content and events related to the pandemic and the task force’s work. It also kicked off a series of webinars in collaboration with various privacy networks and organizations, thus far discussing contact-tracing applications with representatives from Apple and Google, examining the role of data protection authorities in COVID-19 response.

Looking forward, Liboro said the task force will compile a resource of various jurisdictional experiences and responses to the pandemic that will not only be useful now as the world responds to COVID-19, but also in the future as a reference for data protection and privacy authorities.

“It’s very important that we not only provide inspirational guidance to our fellow data protection authorities, but also the actual opportunities they can use and deploy within their own jurisdictions. Our members have a ready toolbox where they can draw out any reference or resources that can be useful to them,” he said. “We’re also documenting and making sure that future authorities would have a resource reference that they can pool knowledge from.”

With more than 22 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide, Liboro said the work of data protection and privacy authorities, as well as the GPA COVID-19 Task Force, is “far from over.”

The group will continue to share knowledge, content and engagement opportunities and anticipates publishing guidelines this fall on the best practices in COVID-19 response, incorporating what has been learned over the past months.

“It will be learnings, best practices and approaches from different networks, regions and associations across the world,” Liboro said. “The DPAs, the authorities, how are we functioning in the trenches? We really want to draw that out.”

In leading the task force, Liboro said he turns to his experience as the privacy commissioner in the Philippines, taking the approach that data protection and privacy authorities serve as both “enablers and protectors” of citizens’ personal data.

“We need to enable jurisdictions and organizations to implement best practices, to learn from one another,” he said. “We are all in the same boat that is this pandemic, and we are all reeling from the impacts. The response of governments all over the world will always touch on the processing of personal data. So it’s really a matter of as authorities we have to look at this holistically, we have to look at this in a practical way and where governments, and generally the whole population, will view us as part of the solution.”

The Conference Report of the 41^st International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners (ICDPPC) in Tirana, Albania is now available.

View the report.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Joe Cannataci, is examining the privacy rights of children and how this right interacts with the interests of business, governments, parents/guardians, and others. An important part of the work, given the international scope of the mandate is understanding the various views from around the world, and a particular interest is the work and experiences of Data Protection Authorities.

A key question is how the right to privacy affects the evolving capacity of the child for autonomy, and what privacy-related factors enhance or constrain this development.

More information can be found at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Privacy/SR/Pages/CFI_Privacy_and_Children.aspx

Submissions should be received by 30 September 2020. Please contact Elizabeth Coombs if this timeframe poses difficulties, or for any other queries.

The Global Privacy Assembly’s COVID-19 Taskforce is hosting its 2^nd webinar for the GPA membership on Enablers and Protectors: The Role of DPAs Confronting COVID-19 – Contact Tracing and the Recovery Response on Thursday 23 July 2020, 11:00-12:30 (UK Time). 

This is the second webinar in the Taskforce Webinar Series that seeks to address some of the critical issues currently facing the data protection and privacy community, thereby enabling capacity building for the GPA membership community.

The Webinar will adopt a thematic approach to the discussion, addressing two themes: the role of DPAs in ensuring a Privacy by Design approach is taken to developing contact tracing and other digital solutions in addressing the pandemic; and, the role of DPAs as enablers and protectors, to ensure privacy is considered in the practical responses to recovery.

View the Agenda.

GPA members and observers can sign-up to the webinar by contacting the GPA Secretariat at secretariat@globalprivacyassembly.org

Speakers

Raymund Enriquez Liboro, Privacy Commissioner and Chairman, Philippines National Privacy Commission, and Chair of the GPA COVID-19 Taskforce

Raymund was appointed the Philippines first Privacy Commissioner and Chairman at the Philippines National Privacy Commission (NPC) in March 2017. A seasoned ICT convergence, communications and public administration professional, he previously served as the former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction and was concurrently the OIC director of the Science and Technology Information Institute, the country’s leading Science and Technology Institute.

Prior to joining government in 2010, he was involved in spearheading award-winning government IT and media platforms, most notable of which was the DOST’s Project Noah (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards), cited by the United Nations Program Office on Governance (UNPOG) as one of the most advanced e-governance tools in disaster prevention.

Raymund is an alumnus of the University of the Philippines – School of Economics.

Raymund was elected to the GPA Executive Committee at the 40th annual conference in October 2018, and is Chair of the GPA COVID-19 Taskforce.

Moderator: Angelene Falk, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Australia

Angelene Falk was appointed Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner in August 2018. She leads the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in fulfilling the office’s functions across privacy, freedom of information (FOI), and government information management.

Angelene has held senior positions in the OAIC since 2012. These include Deputy Commissioner since 2016 and acting Australian Information Commissioner and acting Privacy Commissioner from March 2018.

Over the past decade, she has worked extensively with Australian Government agencies, across the private sector and internationally, at the forefront of addressing regulatory challenges and opportunities presented by rapidly evolving technology and potential uses of data.

Angelene holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honours and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University and a Diploma in Intellectual Property Law from Melbourne University.

Angelene was elected to the Executive Committee at the 40^th annual conference in October 2018, she is Chair of the GPA Strategic Direction Sub-Committee and is co-chair of its Digital Citizen and Consumer Working Group.

Tony Chik-ting LAM, Deputy Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong

Tony Lam is currently the Deputy Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong SAR, and has a strong public sector background. He served in the civil service for about two decades straddling 1997, after which he joined a public organization on technology development as a C-level executive. Prior to becoming the Deputy Privacy Commissioner, Mr Lam was a Senior Advisor to a private sector firm specialising in public policy consultancy.

Over the years, Mr Lam has been involved in public policy formulation and implementation in a very wide range of areas. His portfolio covered mostly trade, industry, innovation, and technology. He served as the cabinet secretary for two Chief Executives of the HKSAR Government and he also played a part in implementing Hong Kong-Mainland cross-boundary mega-size transport projects. His international exposure included being stationed in Washington, D.C. US as a government representative on economic and trade affairs straddling 1997, and post-graduate training in public administration at Oxford University.

Wojciech Wiewiórowski, European Data Protection Supervisor

Wojciech Wiewiórowski was appointed by a joint decision of the European Parliament and the Council on 5 December 2019, for a term of five years.

Before his appointment, he served as Assistant European Data Protection Supervisor from 2014 to 2019, and as Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data at the Polish Data Protection Authority, a position which he had held since 2010. He was also Vice Chair of the Working Party Article 29 Group.

In 1995, he graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, and in 2000, he was awarded the academic degree of Doctor in constitutional law.

Eduardo Bertoni, Director of the National Access to Public Information Agency, Argentina

Eduardo Bertoni (PhD, Buenos Aires University) is the Director of the National Access to Public Information Agency and the former Director of the National Data Protection Authority in Argentina.

He was the founder and the first director of the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information (CELE) at Palermo University School of Law, Argentina. He was the Executive Director of the Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF) until May 2006. Previously, he was the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights at the Organization of American States (2002-2005).

Teaching Fellow at the Human Rights Institute at Columbia University School of Law (2001). Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow (2012-13) at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Former member of the advisory boards of the Human Rights Initiative (Open Society Foundations), the Media Legal Defence Initiative, the Freedom of Information Advocates Network (FOIAnet), among others. Bertoni has also worked as an advisor to the Department of Justice and Human Rights in Argentina.

He is an Argentinean lawyer and holds a Masters in International Policy and Practice from the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University. Bertoni currently teaches at Buenos Aires University School of Law and New York University School of Law (Global Clinical Professor).

He published several opinion pieces on democracy and human rights in leading newspapers in the Americas and has written several publications on judicial reforms, international criminal law, and human rights & Internet.

Patricia Adusei-Poku, Executive Director of the Ghana Data Protection Commission

Patricia Adusei-Poku is a seasoned privacy practitioner, program manager, information governance and risk expert in the public, private and non-profit sectors globally.

Some of her recent appointments include the Head of Data Protection at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Global Director for Data Protection & Privacy at World Vision International.

Currently the Co-Chair (with UK ICO Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham) on the Common Thread Network (CTN) of Commonwealth Data Protection Commissioner and the Vice President of the African Network of Data Protection Authorities.

Patricia holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA – Project Management & Consultancy), MSC-International Public Policy, BSc (Hons) Computing Science, A Certified Information Privacy Manager (CIPM) issued by the globally recognized International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), Certified Practitioner in European Union General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).

John Edwards, Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner, New Zealand

John Edwards was first appointed to the position of Privacy Commissioner of New Zealand in February 2014, and was re-appointed for a further five-year term in February 2019. Prior to this he practiced law for over 20 years.

John has degrees in law (LLB) and public policy (MPP) from Victoria University of Wellington, NZ and has advised and represented a wide range of clients from the public and private sector. He provides independent comment on significant personal information policies and issues.

John chaired the New Zealand Law Society Privacy and Human Rights Committee and was Contributing Editor of Brookers Human Rights Law and Practice and has published widely on human rights and privacy matters.

In addition to a practice specialty in the field of information and privacy law, he held warrants as a district inspector for mental health, and as district inspector for intellectual disability services and has provided legal services to the Kingdom of Tonga.

In October 2014, John was elected Chair of the Executive Committee of the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners and completed his three-year term in October 2017.