Mexico today acceded to the Council of Europe´s Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, known as “Convention 108”, and to its Additional Protocol on transborder data flows and supervisory authorities.
Mexico, which has observer status in the Council of Europe, has become the sixth non-European state to accede to the convention following Uruguay, Senegal, Mauritius, Tunisia and Cabo Verde, which takes the total number of states parties to the treaty to 53. Another three countries – Morocco, Burkina Faso and Argentina – have already been invited to accede and will most likely be the next countries to become parties.
Santiago Oñate, Permanent Observer of Mexico to the Council of Europe, deposited the accession documents in the presence of the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni.
The convention and its Additional Protocol will enter into force in respect of Mexico on 1 October 2018.
“Convention 108” is the only existing international treaty in force which grants individuals the right to the protection of their personal data, aiming also to prevent any abuses which may accompany the processing of these data. Being open to signature by any country, it is the only binding standard which has the potential to be applied worldwide, providing legal certainty and predictability in international personal data transfers.
The Council of Europe´s Committee of Ministers recently adopted an Amending Protocol– not yet opened for signature - updating the convention to ensure that its data protection principles are still valid for new tools and practices, to strengthen its monitoring mechanism and to ensure compatibility with other international legal frameworks.
