The Global Privacy Assembly (GPA), the most important annual event in the field, held its 45th edition on October 16-20, 2023. With the participation of representatives from 169 member and monitoring authorities, from civil society, the academic world, interest groups, media, etc., the meeting was organized by the Bermuda Personal Data Protection Authority (OPC), under the theme “Ripples, Waves, Currents”.
During the proceedings of the Closed Session, held on October 18-20, the following documents were approved, which will promote the strengthening of the regulatory base in this area:
- Resolution on artificial intelligence in employment matters;
- Resolution on generative artificial intelligence systems;
- Resolution for achieving global standards in the protection of personal data;
- Resolution on health personal data;
- Resolution for the protection of personal data with gender perspective;
- Resolution for the establishment of the GPA library;
- Resolution for the “Prize for human rights and privacy”.
The proceedings of the Closed Session focused on the discussion of the impact of technology and digitalization on the processing of personal data; improving governance and guaranteeing rights through the use of new technologies and strengthening international cooperation and the exchange of best practices. According to the agenda, the annual reports of the GPA Working Groups were presented and approved. By unanimous decision-making of the membership of the organization, the personal data protection authorities of Brazil, Niger and Nigeria were accepted with full rights. Whereas, the institutions of Angola, Barbados and Panama will have observer status; United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy; The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Office for Civil Rights, Privacy and Transparency from the United States of America.
The Open Session proceedings were held on October 16-17, and discussions focused on 9 different panels, where topics of great interest to the privacy professional community and beyond were discussed. With the participation of representatives of the academic world, civil society, business, media, etc., together with those of the member/observer authorities of GPA, there was talk about policy strategies for technology; the problems of using artificial intelligence in the optics of the regulatory framework; promoting the interaction of data protection authorities with regulatory institutions of other fields, or the relationship between financial services and data protection. Other topics that were followed with interest by the attendees were those related to risk assessment in this field; the modern regulatory framework in relation to indigenous populations; international data transfer mechanisms and the necessity of cooperation; as well as the need for more action by the authority in order to guarantee the highest standards for the protection of personal data. During the work of the Assembly, a number of parallel meetings were held organized by regional networks of authorities or institutions in the field, professional or international organizations, interest groups, etc.
The “Giovanni Buttarelli” Award ceremony was also held in the proceedings of the GPA Open Session, where this year, in appreciation of her valuable contribution, Mrs. Andrea Jelinek, former first President of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) and currently Commissioner of Austria.
