Skip to main content

Twentieth plenary session of the European Data Protection Board - scope of upcoming guidance on data processing in the fight against COVID-19

During its 20th plenary session on April 7th, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) assigned concrete mandates to its expert subgroups to develop guidance on several aspects of data processing in the fight against COVID-19. This follows the decision made on April 3rd during the EDPB's 19th plenary session.

  1. geolocation and other tracing tools in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak – a mandate was given to the technology expert subgroup for leading this work;
  2. processing of health data for research purposes in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak – a mandate was given to the compliance, e-government and health expert subgroup for leading this work.

Considering the high priority of these 2 topics, the EDPB decided to postpone the guidance work on teleworking tools and practices in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, for the time being.

Andrea Jelinek, Chair of the EDPB, said: “The EDPB will move swiftly to issue guidance on these topics within the shortest possible notice to help make sure that technology is used in a responsible way to support and hopefully win the battle against the corona pandemic. I strongly believe data protection and public health go hand in hand."

The agenda of the 20th plenary session is available here