EUobserver sat down for an interview with Wojciech Wiewiórowski, the EU’s Data Protection Supervisor.
Wiewiórowski, from Poland, caused headlines this month with his annual report, highlighting how complaints of data-breaches against Europol, the continent’s supra-police force had soared.
He also talks about data concerns over NGOs working in Palestine, sharing information with the US, border control data and more.
In light of Israel’s increasing scrutiny of European (and non-European) humanitarian groups in Palestine, what steps will be taken with regard to data sharing with Israel and to protect NGOs in Palestine?
The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) was not the addressee of the complaints so far, but that’s because we are only supervising EU institutions. The complaints were landing in the authorities of the member states where the NGOs are located and registered. We are however taking part in discussions with the EDPB on the subject of EU institutions sharing data. When thinking about the framework of the transfer of data to a third country, which Israel is, I’m not aware of any discussion on the changes in the procedure that determines a country adequate for sharing data. And once again, that’s a procedure in which the EDPS has a lower role than the national data protection authorities.
