Decision of the Committee
of Ministers
128th session of the Committee of
Ministers, Elsinore, 18 May 2018
Decisions
The Committee of Ministers
1.
took note of Parliamentary Assembly Opinion
No. 296 (2017) on the draft Protocol amending the
Convention for the Protection of Individuals with
regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS
No. 108);
2.
adopted the Protocol amending the Convention
for the Protection of Individuals with regard to
Automatic Processing of Personal Data (ETS No. 108),
as it appears in document CM(2018)2-final, and, as
an instrument related to the Protocol, endorsed
the Explanatory Report, as it appears in document
CM(2018)2-addfinal;
3.
stressed the importance of a speedy accession to
the Protocol by the maximum number of the current
States Parties to Convention No. 108 in order to facilitate the formation of an all-encompassing legal regime
of data protection under the modernised Convention,
as well as to ensure the fullest possible representation
of States within the Convention Committee;
4.
decided to open the Protocol for signature on
25 June 2018* during the 3rd part-session of the
Parliamentary Assembly, in Strasbourg;
*
5.
urged member States and other Parties to the
Convention to take without delay the necessary measures to allow the entry into force of the Protocol within
three years from its opening for signature and to initiate immediately, but in any case no later than one
year after the date on which the Protocol has been
opened for signature, the process under their national
law leading to ratification, approval or acceptance of
this Protocol;
6.
underlined that, following the entry into force
of the amended Convention in accordance with the
provisions of Article 37(2) of the Protocol, only those
States that have ratified, approved or accepted the
Protocol shall be bound by the obligations arising
from the amended Convention;
7.
instructed its Deputies to examine bi-annually,
and for the first time one year after the date of opening
for signature of the Protocol, the overall progress made
towards ratification on the basis of the information to
be provided to the Secretary General by each of the
member States and other Parties to the Convention at
the latest one month ahead of such an examination.
The Committee of Ministers decided to postpone the opening
for signature to 10 October 2018.
Convention 108+ ► Page 5