Handbook on European data protection law

Our societies are becoming ever more digitised. The pace of technological develop-
ments and how personal data are being processed affects each of us every day and

in all sorts of ways in the light of these changes. Legal frameworks of the European
Union (EU) and the Council of Europe that safeguard the protection of privacy and
personal data have recently been reviewed.
Europe is at the forefront of data protection worldwide. The EU’s data protection

standards are based on Council of Europe Convention 108, EU instruments – includ-
ing the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Directive for

Police and Criminal Justice Authorities – as well as on the respective case law of the
European Court of Human Rights and of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The data protection reforms carried out by the EU and the Council of Europe are

extensive and at times complex, with wide-ranging benefits and impact on individu-
als and businesses. This handbook aims to raise awareness and improve knowledge

of data protection rules, especially among non-specialist legal practitioners who
have to deal with data protection issues in their work.
The handbook has been prepared by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA),
with the Council of Europe (together with the Registry of the European Court of

Human Rights) and the European Data Protection Supervisor. It updates a 2014 edi-
tion and is part of a series of legal handbooks co-produced by FRA and the Council

of Europe.
We express our thanks to the data protection authorities of Belgium, Estonia, France,
Georgia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Monaco, Switzerland and the United Kingdom for
their helpful feedback on the draft version of the handbook. In addition, we express

our appreciation to the European Commission’s Data Protection Unit and its Interna-
tional Data Flows and Protection Unit. We thank the Court of Justice of the European

Union for the documentary support provided during the preparatory works of this
handbook.