Data Protection Day 2025
“This Data Protection Day 2025, we encourage you to use the opportunity to brief and engage your organisation’s leadership (and even the wider staff) to consider the opportunities and risks presented by evolving legislation and emerging technologies, particularly AI, and how these can be capitalised upon while remaining compliant. ”
Tuesday 28th January 2025 marks the 44th anniversary of the opening for signature in 1981 of Council of Europe Convention 108, the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data, and the 19th year of celebrating Data Protection Day - or Data Privacy Day as it is known around the world having been adopted more widely.
Fittingly, as the Council of Europe is hosting a conference on ‘A New Mandate for Data Protection’ to explore the current and future landscape of data protection to mark the occasion, 28 January 2025 will also see the House of Lords hold the second sitting of the Report stage of the Data (Use and Access) Bill, when peers will further scrutinise the Bill and seek to ensure that it addresses emerging technologies and threats.
Having regard to this year’s focus, our suggestion for you to bolster compliance efforts within your organisation as a Data Protection Officer (DPO), data protection lead or executive, is to reflect on the opportunities and risks presented by emerging technologies and their adoption within your organisation and the impact that legislative change will have and how it can be capitalised on. The Institute of Directors’ Code of Conduct for Directors, representing best practice, recognises that one of the essential tenets of responsible business is ensuring that artificial intelligence (AI) and other technological innovations are utilised by the organisation in an informed and responsible manner. Perhaps you could use Data Protection Day 2025 as an opportunity to brief your organisation’s leadership and engage them on these issues?
To support you in this endeavour, download our free Helping Hand checklist on deploying AI safely, responsibly and ethically and access the materials on the Data (Use and Access) Bill via the dedicated Data Protection Reform page in the Resources section of our Knowledge & Insights tab, including our unofficial Keeling Schedules the impact of the Bill on the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 and Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR), our comprehensive briefing on the Bill and our related blog posts on its origins, impact and passage through Parliament.
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