International cooperation

The EDPB works closely with data protection authorities, international organisations, and partners outside the EU to address cross-border data protection challenges. This cooperation includes exchanging views on global topics, aligning regulatory approaches and sharing best practices.

Through international cooperation, the EDPB helps strengthen and promote more consistent data protection standards around the world.

Main international cooperation frameworks

The EDPB participates in several international cooperation frameworks, both as a collective body and through its members:

• EDPB Initiative with DPAs from countries and organisations with an EU adequacy decision – this initiative gathers the DPAs from these countries and organisations in order to cooperate and share information on advisory work and gather experience on international data protection enforcement cooperation.
• G7 Roundtable of data protection and privacy authorities - this initiative gathers authorities from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union (EDPB and EDPS). In this context, data protection and privacy authorities exchange work together to identify areas of mutual concern, respond with agility to global developments, and drive collaborative regulatory approaches.
• Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) – successor of the ICDPPC, it seeks to provide leadership at international level in data protection and privacy. It does this by connecting the efforts of more than 130 data protection and privacy authorities from across the globe.
• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - international organisation which promotes the improvement of economic and social lives of people around the world. Their Working Party on Data Governance and Privacy (DGP) works on policies which support privacy-respecting technologies and use.
• Council of Europe (CoE) - international organisation which promotes human rights, including privacy and data protection. The Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (Convention 108) has 55 parties and 36 observers. Its modernised version, Convention 108+, will soon be open to accession by all countries in the world.

Other Regional and International Frameworks 

The EDPB may participate, on an ad hoc basis, in other international cooperation frameworks, both as a collective body and/or through its members:

• Spring Conference of European Data Protection Authorities
• Berlin Group - International Working Group on Data Protection in Technology (IWGDPT)
• French-speaking Association of Personal Data Protection Authorities (AFAPDP);
• Central and Eastern Europe Data Protection Authorities (CEEDPA);
• Asia Pacific Privacy Forum (APPA) - network of Asian privacy authorities
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
• Ibero-American data protection network (RIPD)